


Winter's Warm Embrace

by Diamond_Raven



Category: Original Work
Genre: BDSM, Breaking Up & Making Up, Chastity Device, Collars, Dom/sub Play, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Impact Play, M/M, Modern Royalty, No Punishment, Orgasm Control, Original Fiction, Paddling, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:00:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 96,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diamond_Raven/pseuds/Diamond_Raven
Summary: Since Jeffrey works as a butler for Prince Alexander’s grandfather, he and the Prince are always on opposite sides of society in their professional lives. After meeting on an anonymous BDSM website, they develop an online friendship and eventual BDSM relationship, all while keeping their identities secret from each other. When Jeffrey accidentally discovers who his sub really is, it’ll change their lives forever.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 129
Kudos: 96





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Copyright © 2020 by Diamond_Raven. All rights reserved. This story is free of charge and is not available on any other platforms.
> 
> 2\. I want to thank TheLobster_29 who is the only reason this fic was ever finished. Thank you for rekindling my passion for this story and for your wonderful insights!
> 
> 3\. I’ve tagged all the major themes but I don’t provide trigger warnings for minor events. Feel free to email me if you’d like to ask whether specific things take place in this story.

Walking down the hallway of the Hiveria Sporting Association, Alex listens attentively as the Director keeps talking to him. Alex keeps a polite smile on his face the entire time, always conscious of the TV cameras that are recording his every move and all the people around him who have their phones out, taking pictures. He waits for an opportune time to ask questions, carefully adding in the information he’d memorized the night before when his butler Gary had helped him prep for the engagement.

As they round the corner, a young girl breaks away from her parents and comes running up to him, holding up a hockey stick. Out of his peripheral vision, Alex notices his bodyguard, Prakash, stepping forward to gently intervene, but Alex discreetly holds out a hand towards him as he smiles at the little girl and crouches down to greet her. “Hello, there. What’s your name?”

She’s shaking from excitement. “Leslie. Do you like my hockey stick?!”

Alex gently takes it out of her hands and inspects it. Right away, he’s reminded of his dom and as always, his cock stirs a bit, pressing up against the metal cage he’s wearing. Alex has never played hockey in his life and has no interest in it, but his dom goes to a recreation center every Sunday morning to play a casual game with others. His dom also follows their national hockey team’s progress every year and loves ranting about various things to Alex. Despite not being that interested in it, Alex loves how enthusiastic his dom is about it and learning about hockey has made their friendship grow right alongside their BDSM relationship so Alex is always happy to further his education about his country’s national sport.

“It’s a wonderful stick,” he tells the girl. “It’s got good balance and it’s very good quality.”

Silently, he sends a mental thank-you to his dom. He’s the only reason Alex can turn this conversation into something genuine.

The little girl nods. “Yes, it is! My old one broke and I couldn’t play hockey anymore, but they gave me one for free!”

Alex knows she’s referring to the center, which has a department that provides free sporting equipment to those less fortunate. “That’s very nice of them, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” She’s beaming and everybody around them chuckles. Alex is providing a beautiful public relations moment for the monarchy, but he’s also making this little girl’s day, so everything is good.

“You’ll be playing for Team Hiveria in no time,” he tells her.

She giggles, sounding delighted. Then her parents come forward and Alex returns Leslie’s stick and stands up to speak to her parents, keeping his smile firmly on his lips.

As they’re talking, he has to shift discreetly to readjust his cage when it starts pinching a bit, but he’s so used to it by now that it only takes a little hip twist to get it sitting properly again. Thank God that he lives in a country that has winter year-round because Alex couldn’t get away with wearing the cage in public if he had to wear thinner pants.

His dom had been very concerned when Alex had wanted to start wearing a cage in public, especially a bulky metal one, but Alex loves this one so much more than the plastic versions they’d tried and he’d rather spend a little time worrying about keeping it hidden than live with another version—or no cage at all. His metal cage has a nice weight to it that the plastic ones didn’t have and it’s a wonderful, constant reminder that he’s keeping his cock nicely contained until it’s time to play with his dom. It’s not something his dom had insisted on but when Alex had found out such cages exist, the submissive nature of them had immediately appealed him. Months later, he’s still thrilled to wear the cage six days a week, only taking it off on Sundays when it’s time to let his cock out to play.

Once his time in the center is finished, it’s time to head outside for the walkabout. Keeping that constant smile on his face, Alex takes his coat back from Gary and slips it on before stepping outside. As usual, it’s snowing a little bit and it’s chilly, but he’s used to it.

The crowd that has been patiently waiting for him outside is bundled up in winter layers but they all come alive when he emerges; shouting, waving and cheering. One person is wearing a very warm looking hat and Alex gets a little jealous. Having grown up in Hiveria, he’s used to the cold but he also loves putting on warm layers, especially when there’s a cold snap. Unfortunately, wearing hats or thick scarves isn’t permitted on engagements. They make it difficult for people to get the perfect photo and that’s an understandable no-no. Wearing gloves is also a no-no because it makes handshakes less personal.

Smiling, Alex hurries to one end of the crowd and starts greeting people, always determined to get through as many people as possible before he has to go. Dozens of hands are stretched out towards him, almost everybody is holding a phone to record the occasion and the piercing screams of some girls can be heard over everybody else’s shouts.

“Oh, my God! Prince Alex! Oh, my God! Over here!”

“Prince Alex! Can I get a selfie with you? Please, please?”

“Your Highness! I have a present for you! Over here, please!”

With  Prakash behind him and Gary one step behind and one step to the side, Alex reaches for the first set of hands and briefly shakes them, smiling at the screaming, enthusiastic crowd.

Doing the walkabout is an art form that took him a few months to perfect, but now that he’s been doing it for nearly ten years, it’s no longer stressful. The rules are very straight-forward. Only stop for short conversations. Don’t ask open-ended questions that will invite lengthy conversations but ask questions that let people know he’s listening. Always ask for people’s names so they feel like he really cares about them personally. And always, always, _always_ smile.

Unlike some members of his family, Alex really enjoys doing the walkabouts. Not because he’s overly keen on meeting dozens of strangers every single day who he’ll never see again, but because it’s the right thing to do. Years ago, walkabouts hadn’t been a normal part of Royal engagements—his grandparents had started the practice decades before Alex was born—and it always made Alex uncomfortable to watch videos from that time when the older generation would come out of a building and walk stone-faced to their waiting vehicle and drive away, ignoring the enthusiastic crowd who had waited for hours just to say hello to them. His great aunt Grand Empress Melinda calls that practice ‘proper’ while Alex privately calls it ‘rude’. But whatever. Alex has happily continued the tradition that his grandparents had introduced and he cherishes his reputation as a more relatable and warmer Royal than his great aunt. He loves his great aunt dearly, but they’ll always have slightly different views of how to conduct their duties. But that’s okay.

One of the first hands he gently shakes is an older woman’s. She’s standing with a teenage boy, who’s busy filming the whole thing with his phone. “Hello! What’s your name?”

The woman quickly does a shaky looking curtsy, vibrating from excitement as she keeps clutching his hand. “Oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow. It’s—it’s Marley, Your Royal Highness. This is my grandson, Tom.”

Alex gently extricates his hand from Marley’s grip and shakes Tom’s hand too, whose eyes are huge and he looks like he’s about to pass out as he nearly drops his phone. “It’s wonderful to meet you both.”

This over-the-top excitement that some people have when they meet him used to freak him out when he was younger, but now he’s used to it. He knows it’s not really him they’re reacting to, but what he represents. He’s a walking and talking part of Hiveria’s history and traditions, not to mention that he’s an actual Prince and lives in an actual castle. It’s romantic and exciting and a bunch of other things that don’t reflect reality, but it’s Alex’s job to maintain that illusion. Being born a Wallace means being born with a set of responsibilities and duties which have to be properly fulfilled in order to earn the privileges that come with his title. That’s the way things have always been and that’s the way things will always be. It’s one of the Great Empress’ principles that Alex has always fully supported.

“We’re from Glace, sir,” Tom pipes up.

“Oh, is that right? You’ve come a long way.”

Marley’s nodding enthusiastically. “Yes! We came down to Neige for a visit and can you believe our luck that we were right around the corner from here when we found out you’d be here? Oh, this is fantastic!”

“I’m very happy I could make your day, ma’am. I’ll actually be in Glace in...May?” He doesn’t know his entire schedule by heart—doing hundreds of engagement a year makes that impossible—but he always loves going out to the smaller towns on the outer regions of the country and he scans through his preliminary annual itinerary in January to see how many he’ll get to do in the coming year. He knows he’s supposed to be going up to Glace some time in May.

Her eyes light up. “Oh! That’s wonderful! Are you coming up to see the glass factory, sir?”

Alex smiles. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll keep an eye out for you two when I’m up there.”

She looks delighted by the news. “We’ll be there!”

“Have a safe trip back home.”

Conscious of time slipping by and the rest of the enthusiastic people who have been waiting for hours in the cold to see him, Alex keeps walking, shaking more hands and greeting people as snow flakes fall around them and his breath clouds up in the cool air. The tips of his nose and ears and his hands are a bit chilled, but Alex barely notices. Some people have brought him flowers and other gifts, which Alex discreetly hands back to Gary so his hands stay free to keep shaking hands.

When Gary gives him the signal that his time is coming to an end, Alex speeds up a bit, picking out the faces in the crowd who look especially desperate to see him versus the ones who are more focused on freaking out with their friends. Him being gay has been public knowledge since his teens, but that doesn’t seem to stop women from always freaking out at the sight of him. It’s something he’s used to, but what they mostly care about is getting pictures of him and telling their friends about seeing him, so he won’t be disappointing them too much if he doesn’t stop for a chat. But talking to the children is always quick and easy, and he makes it a point to speak to anybody elderly who clearly shouldn’t be outside braving the cold anymore but their love for the monarchy has brought them out onto the freezing sidewalk just to talk to him.

Once he reaches the end of the line, he gives the crowd another wave and heads over to his waiting car. He keeps smiling and waving as Gary opens the door for him and he slips inside. He only allows himself to stop smiling and relax once the car is at the end of the block. Smiling constantly isn’t official protocol, but Alex has seen way too many photos of himself captured sitting in a car when he’s busy thinking about something and he’s frowning and looking displeased with the world. That always results in cruel headlines with bullshit claims over Royal drama and Alex doesn’t like giving the tabloids any ammunition.

But as they join the normal flow of traffic, Alex can finally relax. “Well, I think that went very well. Good job, team.”

Prakash and driver chuckle as Gary’s sorting through his bag filled with gifts. “Yes, it was a lovely engagement, Your Highness.”

Smiling, Alex shifts in his seat to adjust his cage.

“You know, if you keep this up, they might make you a Duke before you turn thirty, sir,” Gary muses.

Alex chuckles. “That’s not protocol.”

“No, but given the circumstances...”

Alex feel that familiar twinge in his gut which happens whenever his parents are mentioned. They had passed away in a car accident when Alex was five years old and the situation’s always been strange. He barely remembers them but since his daily life and job both revolve around his family, he’s used to his parents being brought up in all sorts of ways that often aren’t related to them being Alex’s parents. Gary’s comment has little to do with Alex’s parents having been his parents and more to do with his little section of the Royal Family tree missing an essential part of the normal hierarchy.

Since Alex is tenth in line to the throne anyway and that position wouldn’t change if he were promoted from Prince to Duke, not currently having the Duke position filled in his direct line of succession isn’t an urgent matter, but it does mean his grandfather and the other Dukes and Duchesses in the family have to take on some responsibilities that would have been his parents if they were still alive. But everybody will have to wait a few more years for the situation to change because his great aunt had made it clear that she wouldn’t bend the rules to make Alex a Duke early.

“Empress Tanisha may bend those rules for me, but we all know the Grand Empress won’t,” Alex says. “At the end of the day, her word is the law in the palace.”

His great aunt Tanisha has always been a lot more relaxed about Royal protocol since she’d married into the Royal Family and hadn’t grown up with all the protocols drilled into her head.  She comes from one of the oldest and riches families in Hiveria and she’s much easier to get along with than h er wife .  But his great aunt Melinda is a stickler for the rules and traditions of the Royal Family and  her wife’s opinion or anybody else’s opinion is irrelevant. Besides, while it annoys Alex that his grandfather and others have to take on additional responsibility that Alex knows he could handle, it’s pointless to argue with his great aunt over such things. There are certain things he’s fought with her about and won, but he’s careful not to push her too much.

Gary chuckles. “Then you’ll have to wait three more years, sir. But I think you meet all the qualifications of being a Duke already.”

Alex grins. “Thank you, Gary. That’s high praise, coming from you.”

Gary has been a butler for the Royal Family since before Alex was born and the older man had trained Alex since his teens. If Gary’s telling him he’s doing his job right, that really means something.

“You’ve earned it,” Gary says as he keeps sorting through the bags of gifts. “Would you like to keep any of the gifts, sir?”

Thinking it over, Alex remembers two of the gifts which he’d like to keep. “The key chain and one of the pucks.”

Gary fishes them out and hands them over. Grabbing them, Alex inspects them as he smiles. The key chain is a little silver colored hockey stick with his name on it, which is adorable and also practical. He’ll put it on his car keys chain. The puck isn’t practical for Alex, but he knows his dom will like it.

Staring at the puck and thinking of his dom’s reaction reminds him that it’s Saturday and after lunch, he has one more engagement to get through and then it’s time for his weekend.

As soon as he gets back to the palace in the afternoon, he’ll get his weekend started by texting his dom and exchanging ideas of what they’re in the mood for. Last week, his dom had been sore from colliding with the boards during his hockey game and he hadn’t been in the mood for a vigorous spanking session, but Alex is hoping he’ll be in the mood tomorrow. If not, there are a hundred other wonderful things that they can do together, but Alex’s ass has lost any trace of soreness from their last spanking session and that’s always disappointing.

Saturday evening will be spent playing cards with his grandfather, Sunday morning and afternoon will be spent relaxing and going down to his little workshop to work on his newest ice sculpture and on Sunday evening, it’ll be time to meet with his dom.

A shiver of excitement runs through him and his cock stirs in his cage again. He can’t wait! But for now, he has to take deep breaths, calm down and stay focused. He still has a bit of his work day remaining.

* * *

Standing in front of his bathroom mirror above the small sink, Jeffrey checks that his hair and uniform jacket are perfect. It had been snowing quite a bit during the Grand Duke’s afternoon engagement and Jeffrey’s hair always does silly things when it gets wet. But a bit of glaring and re-organizing gets his hair to cooperate again. His white bowtie has gotten a little askew, so that needs some fixing. His stiff red jacket looks fine but one of the gold buttons has a smudge on it, which is quickly buffed away with a hand towel.

Once he’s happy with his appearance, he steps into his small bedroom and grabs a fresh pair of white gloves from his dresser and slips them on. Then it’s time to head to the kitchen to get the Grand Duke his dinner before he’ll go to the staff dining room to have his own dinner, which will bring Saturday to a close and pull Sunday within reach.

Saturdays are always the hardest days to get through because the end of his six-day work week is within sight. Unlike Monday through Friday, Jeffrey doesn’t have to devote every free moment to thinking about what tasks he needs to do. He still needs to check his phone messages constantly to see if any of the Grand Duke’s engagements for next week have changed or if any other urgent matters pop up. But in general, the whole palace works like a well oiled machine and surprises are few and far in between.

So unlike Monday through Friday, on Saturdays he can look forward to his hockey game on Sunday morning, and that’s followed by his favorite time of the week: meeting up with his sub on Sunday evening.

Shiverinng a bit from excitement, Jeffrey clenches his gloved hands and takes a shaky breath, trying to stay calm as his cock twitches. After being knocked into the boards by an overly aggressive player from the opposing team—who has been banned from their future games for not understand that all the players have full time jobs that require them to stay in one piece—Jeffrey hadn’t felt he could give his sub a proper spanking session and doing a lackluster job wasn’t in either of their best interest. Instead, he’d tied his sub to the hotel bed and spent hours teasing him; putting their favorite clover nipple clamps on him and alternating teasing his cock with his tongue and vibrating toys, and fucking him whenever Jeffrey felt like it. It had been fantastic, but it’s been two weeks since he’d turned his sub’s pale ass into a gorgeous, fiery work of art and that’s way too long. Now that he’s completely recovered from last week, he’s ready to give them both what they’ve been missing.

Right on cue, his personal phone buzzes in his pocket before he’s about to step out of his room to head to the kitchen. Smiling, he digs his phone out of his pocket and sees that he got a message from his sub.

‘ _How are you feeling???’_

Jeffrey smirks and types a reply.  _‘What you’re really curious about is if I’m healthy enough to spank you right?’_

His sub replies immediately with a string of laughing smiley faces.  _‘You know me too well.’_

Grinning, Jeffrey chuckles quietly. After being together for a year, one would hope that Jeffrey would know his sub very well. He wouldn’t be a very good dom if that weren’t true. Leaning against his door, Jeffrey quickly responds. He has to get the Grand Duke his dinner, but he can’t resist chatting a bit more.  _‘I know your ass particularly well and don’t worry, it’ll get what it’s craving tomorrow...as long as you’re in the mood for it.’_

He’s always careful to keep himself and his sub on equal footing when they’re planning their scenes. Making his sub happy is one of the most important things in his life and Jeffrey always works hard to give his sub an equal voice. Just because his sub likes being submissive in bed doesn’t mean Jeffrey considers himself above his sub. They’re equal partners who just happen to like opposite things in the bedroom.

‘ _I’m very much in the mood!’_

Smiling, Jeffrey’s excitement comes rushing back, but he takes a deep breath. Not yet.  _‘I gotta go but we’ll chat tonight.’_

‘ _Okay!’_

Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Jeffrey hurries out of his room and walks as fast as protocol allows him to as he winds his way down the narrow, twisting servant hallways to the kitchen to get the Grand Duke his dinner. The whole time, his heart continues racing and he can’t stop thinking about tomorrow.

He’s had subs before, but his relationship with his current sub is by far the best one he’s ever had. Their kinks and play styles are very compatible but Jeffrey’s had that before. What makes this relationship different is that they’re the same age and they’ve developed a wonderful friendship right alongside their BDSM relationship. Jeffrey’s had other subs where conversations would die out as soon as they weren’t talking about BDSM stuff. That’s fine but it meant those relationships never had the potential to be anything more. When Jeffrey had randomly connected with his sub through the online BDSM dating website he uses, he hadn’t expected their relationship to become anything more than just casual play partners. But to his surprise, they ended up getting along very well and a friendship had developed between them without either of them really trying.

But unfortunately, that’s as far as their relationship will ever be able to go. Having to stay anonymous with each other means there are certain lines they’ll never be able to cross and that’s something both of them accept.

Making the situation more complicated is that Jeffrey’s heart doesn’t seem to be on the same page as the rest of him. Not even a little bit. He adores his sub in all ways and despite his best efforts, he’s falling harder and harder for him every single day. It’s ridiculous because Jeffrey doesn’t even know his sub’s name and probably never will, but that doesn’t really matter. He feels like he knows everything about his sub that he needs to know and he’s slowly falling in love with the person he’s come to know.

Unfortunately, making his sub aware of his rapidly changing feelings for him would probably freak him out and Jeffrey would end up getting dumped within seconds. Keeping his feelings for his sub hidden is far preferable to not having his sub in his life at all, so Jeffrey does everything he can to keep his true feelings to himself. When he and his sub had started doing scenes together in person, Jeffrey had taken steps to protect his heart as much as possible by setting strict limits on physical intimacy and that seems to be working out well so far.

His sub has no idea that Jeffrey’s in love with him, Jeffrey gets to spend time with his sub nearly every day and their relationship isn’t impacting Jeffrey’s job or the monarchy’s reputation. Things are as good as they’ll ever get and Jeffrey’s thrilled.

* * *

Arriving at his grandpa’s room, Alex clutches his keys in his hand as he presses the door buzzer. He waits patiently, knowing his grandpa’s butler is clicking on the video display on the other side of the door to see who’s outside and asking if he should open the door.

Sure enough, the door clicks open after a few seconds and Alex smiles at Jeffrey. Alex is so used to being around Gary all day that it’s always strange to see Jeffrey wearing the exact same uniform and having the exact same job, despite being decades younger than Gary. But it’s also nice to see somebody who’s Alex’s age and takes their job as seriously as he does. The staff pay isn’t great and many of the young people who join the staff as junior butlers decide the job isn’t for them. That position provides very little contact with the Royal Family and junior butlers have to spend years learning the intricate details of their job before they’re promoted to butler and allowed to serve a member of the Royal Family. Most people are too impatient for that. But unlike so many others, Jeffrey not only loves his job enough to still be here but Alex knows he’s one of the youngest people to ever be promoted to butler, which says a lot.

“Hello, Jeffrey.”

“Good evening, sir.” Jeffrey bows his head before taking a step back from the door and turning to face his grandpa as Alex waits in the doorway. “Sir, may I present; His Royal Highness, Prince Alexander.”

His grandpa is already coming towards him, a bright smile on his face. “Hello, Alex.”

“Hi, grandpa.” Stepping inside, Alex walks as fast as protocol allows him to and hugs his grandpa tightly. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Pulling back, Alex studies the old man with concern. His grandpa’s in his seventies and Alex is always blown away by the fact that he’s still doing over 400 engagements a year, despite his age. Alex hasn’t gone beyond 300 engagements a year yet and he’s five decades younger than him. “It was a little cool out there today. Were you warm enough?”

His grandpa waves a dismissive hand. “Oh, it was fine. The engagements were all indoors, the walkabouts went quick and Jeffrey had my favorite hat and gloves waiting for me when I got back into the car.”

Alex shoots Jeffrey a smile. “That’s very thoughtful, Jeffrey.”

Jeffrey’s busy putting his grandpa’s finished dinner dishes back on the silver tray, but he smiles at Alex. “It’s all part of the job, sir.”

“No, it’s really not.”

His grandpa laughs softly. “We need to clone Gary and Jeffrey and staff the entire palace with them.”

Alex laughs. “Be careful what you wish for. We wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

Still laughing, his grandpa waves him over to the card table to sit down. Once they’re sitting, Jeffrey brings over their set of playing cards and the small notebook where Alex and his grandpa have been recording their scores since Alex was old enough to understand how to play.

Once he’s put everything down, Jeffrey steps back, his hands clasped behind his back and addresses his grandpa. “Would you like a drink, sir?”

His grandpa grabs the stack of cards and shuffles them expertly, which is a skill Alex still can’t replicate after years of trying. “Yes, please. The usual.”

Jeffrey glances at Alex. “And for you, sir?”

Watching his grandpa shuffling the cards, Alex shifts a bit to adjust his cage but he smiles at Jeffrey. “Yes, thank you. I’ll have my usual too.”

Already knowing what they prefer to drink during their card games, Jeffrey goes to the drinks tray to prepare their drinks.

“So how was the sporting association?” His grandpa asks as he deals out their first hand.

“It went very well. An adorable little girl was showing me her hockey stick.” That reminds Alex that he’d wanted to show his grandpa the key chain. “Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to show you what they gave me.” Digging his car keys out of his pocket, he hands it to his grandpa, the silver hockey stick dangling from it.

The old man puts down the cards and takes the key chain, inspecting it closely. “Oh, that’s lovely! And they engraved your name on it. HRH Prince Alexander Wallace. How thoughtful.”

Alex laughs. “I’m just glad they didn’t try to write out the whole ‘His Royal Highness’ or add my middle names to it.”

“They’d have to use an actual hockey stick to get all that on there,” his grandpa says, chuckling.

Jeffrey brings their drinks and sets them on the table on small coasters, making sure the square coasters are exactly 2 inches from the edge of the table. Alex doesn’t have to measure it and neither does Jeffrey.

His grandpa holds up the key chain. “Jeffrey, look at this little hockey stick.”

Taking the chain with his white gloved hands, Jeffrey smiles at Alex’s new addition. “It’s lovely, sir,” he says as he hands the key chain back to Alex. “It reminds me of the ice sculpture you finished a few months ago. The hockey skates one.”

Alex smiles when Jeffrey mentions his art, but his heart twists a bit. The decision to make a sculpture featuring a pair of hockey skates had been purely influenced by his dom. While working on that piece, Alex had come very close to telling his dom details about his art, but that would be taking a massive risk.

He loves posting pictures of his finished pieces to his personal social media account and the big argument he’d had with his great aunt over his decision to use his real name on the account—without any references to him being a Royal—had been worth it. But sadly, it means telling his dom about any of his art pieces could result in his dom figuring out who he is. While being an ice or snow carver in Hiveria is about as rare as playing hockey or owning a scarf, he’d want to talk to his dom about the pieces he’s currently working on and that would be taking too big of a risk.

His grandpa is nodding. “Ah, yes! I remember that one. They were beautiful, Alex.”

“The laces on the skates were my favorite parts. They looked so realistic,” Jeffrey says, smiling softly.

Alex blushes a bit at their praise and remembering that he does get to share his art with other people who are important to him goes a long way to making him feel better about the situation. “Thank you.”

“Are you going to continue working on that book sculpture tomorrow?” his grandpa asks.

Alex grins. “Yes. I decided I don’t like how the random scribbles look when I carved them on the open pages part so I’m going to melt them away and actually carve some lines from a book.”

“Do you have a book picked out yet?”

Making a face, Alex shrugs. “Not really. I’m open to suggestions.”

His grandpa frowns and glances at his bookshelf. “I’ll spend some time tomorrow looking through what I have. How many lines do you want to do?”

“Hand carving the letters is a pain so short and sweet is better.”

“I’ll find something, don’t worry. I’ll call you once I have some options for you.”

Alex grins. “Thanks.”

His grandpa smiles back, his eyes shining. “I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.”

Jeffrey steps back from the table and clasps his hands behind his back again while addressing his grandpa. “Is there anything else, sir?”

His grandpa smiles and waves a hand. “No, no, we’ll be fine for the rest of the evening. Go and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you bright and early on Monday morning.”

“The same to you, sir. Have a good night.” He bows his head at his grandpa and then at Alex, following proper protocol. “Have a good night, sir.”

Alex picks up his hand of cards and starts sorting them as he struggles not to make a face. It’s a terrible hand to start with. “You too, Jeffrey.”

Picking up the dinner tray, Jeffrey quietly walks out of the room as Alex reaches for his drink and downs half of it.

His grandpa laughs when he sees it. “I take it you don’t have a good hand to start with?”

“You wouldn’t want to re-deal, would you?”

“I have a superb hand, so no.”

Alex smiles, sending him a mock-glare. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy on me.”

The old man chuckles as he sorts his own hand. “I remember a certain somebody having a big tantrum at the age of sixteen when he discovered that I had been taking it easy on him. You can’t have it both ways.”

Sighing dramatically, Alex tries keeping his glare on his face, but it eventually dissolves into a grin. No matter how stressful and difficult his work week is, he loves starting out his weekend routine like this. And after playing a few rounds, Alex will get to finish his Saturday by talking to his dom and figuring out exactly what naughty things they’ll be doing together tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who are interested, [here](https://i.imgur.com/QobkZ2F.png) is a picture of Jeffrey's uniform and [here](https://i.imgur.com/sWP8TJT.png) is the Wallace family tree.


	2. Chapter 2

Once he’s back in his room, Jeffrey takes off his uniform, changes into comfortable clothes and collapses in his bed while turning on the tiny television that’s on the wall across from him. It’s officially time for his weekend to begin.

Putting his work phone on the bedside table so he’ll notice if he gets important messages, he picks up his personal phone and texts his sub, letting him know that he’s done with his work week and he can chat whenever his sub gets done doing whatever he’s doing. To get ready, he takes out the little gadget that he clips onto the corner of his mouth. It’s a voice distortion device and it had been expensive as hell, but worth every penny. He doesn’t usually talk when he’s out in public with the Grand Duke so there’s little chance somebody will recognize his voice, but he’s careful to maintain any layer of anonymity that he can get when he’s with a sub. Having it get out that a member of the Royal Household engages in BDSM stuff would cause an embarrassing scandal, even if Jeffrey only does it during his personal time. That’s the last thing he wants.

This is his sub’s first physical BDSM relationship and Jeffrey had been worried that his privacy demands would be too much. Some of the subs he’s tried connecting with had immediately turned him down when he’d brought up the privacy measures he insists on. But thankfully, his sub is just as eager to keep his identity secret. He’d brought up signing non-disclosure agreements before Jeffrey had even started his usual NDA discussion, and his sub had eagerly bought himself a mask and a voice distortion device that allowed them to finally meet up in person but keep their identities hidden.

After about an hour, Jeffrey’s phone rings and his sub’s familiar number flashes on the screen. Grinning, Jeffrey picks up the phone. “Hey. All done with your day?”

His sub chuckles and the sound immediately warms Jeffrey’s heart. It’s always a little strange to know that Jeffrey has never heard his sub’s real voice and probably never will, but his heart doesn’t seem to care.

“Yeah,” his sub says. “I spent some time with my family and now my weekend’s all mine. And also—all yours.”

Jeffrey grins, excitement already coiling in his stomach. His sub sounds really excited too, which is wonderful. “You’re excited to get that pretty little ass spanked, huh?”

His sub hums in response. “Oh, yeah. My ass is all pale and that’s no good.”

“No, we can’t have that. But lucky for both of us, I’m back to being a hundred percent and we’ll give your ass what it’s been desperately missing. So, anything specific you’re in the mood for or do you want me to choose?”

“You choose,” his sub says immediately. “As long as it involves me getting spanked, I’m happy with whatever you wanna do.”

Smiling, Jeffrey’s heart’s racing as he thinks about what he wants to do tomorrow. “I’m gonna use the paddle.”

His sub moans softly, his love for Jeffrey’s favorite paddle clear.

Jeffrey’s gone through many different paddles over the years but he’d finally found a multi-purpose one that he adores. It’s covered in soft fuzz on one side and polished, smooth wood on the other. It has a nicely shaped handle that fits well in his hand and the paddle’s light enough that swinging it for multiple hits isn’t tiring but still leaves a sting. Since he hasn’t used the paddle on his sub for two weeks, he’s very eager to put it back into their routine. “I’ve missed using my paddle so I’ll make sure you two get re-acquainted properly. I’ll rub the fuzzy side over your ass to tease you, then I’ll give you some nice, hard strikes. That’s gonna leave you with some beautiful marks that you’ll feel for a few days.”

“Fuck,” his sub breathes out. His sub doesn’t often curse, but Jeffrey loves riling him up to the point where he can’t help it. “I’m already getting hard thinking about it. My cage is squeezing me a bit.”

Jeffrey’s grin turns into a smirk and arousal shivers through him. “You’re lying naked on your bed, staring at your cock all tucked away, aren’t you?”

His sub laughs, but it sounds a little strained. No doubt, his stiffening cock is pressing against the unforgiving metal of that gorgeous cage. Jeffrey smirks harder and rubs a lazy hand over his slowly stiffening cock in his sweatpants. “You’re gonna spend all night thinking about what I’m gonna do to you tomorrow, won’t you? You’re gonna dream about the paddle and me fucking you and you’re gonna be hard the whole night. But you’re gonna be my good boy and your cock’s gonna stay locked up until I take it out to play, won’t it?”

His sub’s breathing is picking up speed. “Yes, sir,” he breathes out, sounding delighted by it. “I’ll keep your present wrapped up until you’re ready to play with it.”

Reaching under his shirt, Jeffrey hooks his finger around the small metal chain that holds one of the two keys to the cage. Pulling it out, he stares down at the bright red key, smiling. “I’m playing with the key right now. It’ll feel so damn good when I unlock it tomorrow, hmm?”

His sub groans. “You’re a damn tease, sir.”

“And I know you love it.”

Jeffrey’s never had a sub who wanted to use a chastity device and at first, Jeffrey hadn’t felt comfortable with the idea. The thought of literally not allowing his sub to have access to his own cock at all times didn’t sit right with him because of the many safety concerns. What if his sub had to remove the cage due to a medical emergency or what if Jeffrey loses the key? What if they’ve had an argument and his sub wants to take the cage off because keeping it on was making him more upset?

At first, his sub had been willing to forget about the idea but Jeffrey loved the power dynamics behind the cage too and they’d worked through all the issues that were stopping Jeffrey from committing to it.

His sub had been the one who picked his cage and Jeffrey had insisted on his sub keeping one key while Jeffrey has the other. Jeffrey had snuck into the maintenance room at the palace and painted both keys bright red so they’ll be able to find them if they ever drop them outside in the snow. Knowing his sub always has the ability to remove the cage if he needs to allows Jeffrey to rest easy and enjoy the whole thing. It’s a huge turn-on that his sub physically can’t get himself off and can’t even play with his cock until the cage comes off.

Their other concern had been cleanliness. His sub wears the cage six days a week and he cleans himself and the cage as much as he can on a daily basis but Jeffrey’s the only one who takes the cage off and that only happens on Sundays. Jeffrey’s the one who insists on giving the cage a thorough cleaning and inspecting his sub to make sure everything’s still okay once they’re done playing. So far, there hadn’t been any problems and Jeffrey now loves the cage and what it represents as much as his sub does.

He moans softly as he rubs his cock through his pants, picturing his sub’s swelling cock straining against the beautiful stainless steel cage. “I can’t wait to see my beautiful present tomorrow. All wrapped up and waiting for me, pressing against the metal bars and so desperate to be free.”

His sub whines quietly.

“You’re gonna keep being my good boy until I decide to unwrap my present, won’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

Smiling, Jeffrey relaxes into his pillows and rubs his cock, enjoying the low arousal that’s simmering through him. But now that he’s teased his sub enough, it’s time to make sure they’re on the same page for tomorrow. “So you’ll be happy if I spank you with the paddle and fuck you? Or have you been dreaming about something else?”

His sub lets out a groan. “I’m happy with whatever my dom wants to do.”

Jeffrey’s smile softens. “That’s my good boy. Now, breathe and calm down or you’re never gonna fall asleep. You’re gonna need your energy tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

His sub’s voice is strained, which means he’s a lot more worked up than Jeffrey had wanted him to get. “Be my good boy and tell me what you’re doing tomorrow while I’m playing hockey. You gonna keep working on that art piece?”

His sub draws in a shaky breath. “Yeah. I changed my mind about one part of it but I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish the change tomorrow. One of my family members is helping me with it so I have to wait a bit.”

Jeffrey’s about to blurt out that he would be happy to help him too and he wishes he could see what it looks like when it’s done, and he barely catches himself before the words come out. It sucks not knowing anything about one of his sub’s favorite hobbies. His desire to support his sub in all parts of his life is so strong, but that’s a desire which will have to stay unfulfilled.

It’s especially difficult to keep his mouth shut today after having once again seen the joy on Prince Alexander’s face when Jeffrey and the Grand Duke had complimented his ice carving. It’s one thing to compliment a person at their job but supporting them in their hobbies is even more meaningful, at least to Jeffrey it is. He adores sharing his love of hockey with his sub and it means so much to him that his sub has made a special effort to learn more about hockey in order to support Jeffrey’s love for his hobby. But sadly, that’s as far as things will ever go between them.

For some reason, his sub’s art is one area where his sub absolutely doesn’t want to give Jeffrey any additional information. Jeffrey doesn’t even know what type of art he does. Maybe his sub is a famous artist and he fears that giving away too many details will lead to Jeffrey being able to figure out who he is?

Well, Jeffrey can’t complain because he enforces similar restrictions to protect his own privacy. Sometimes Jeffrey fantasizes about his sub randomly showing up at his hockey game to cheer him on but then he remembers why that would be a very bad thing and he’s glad he keeps details of where and when he plays hockey a secret.

Not knowing anything about his sub’s art is a stark reminder of the limitations that their relationship will always have and that makes him a little sad, but that’s a price he’s willing to pay to keep the job he loves. While his sub may be willing to abide by their NDA if he knew who Jeffrey really was, it’s too big of a risk to take. It’s not just Jeffrey’s job that’s at stake, but his job is the most important part of his life and protecting the Royal Family’s reputation is part of that job. No matter what, if Jeffrey has to choose between his job and his sub, he’ll always choose his job. That’s a decision he’d made ten years ago when his lifelong dream of working at the palace had become a reality and it’s not something he’s ever regretted. Then again...he’s never fallen this hard for a sub before either.

The situation has the potential to massively blow up in his face and hurt him no matter which ending he chooses. But that makes him even more determined to push off that inevitable choice as long as possible, which means not asking sub to come see him play hockey and not asking his sub more probing questions about his art.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Jeffrey returns to the conversation. It’s really hard to talk about his sub’s art when Jeffrey has such little information to go on, but he loves hearing the joy in his voice when they talk about it so he does his best to stretch things out. “How long do you think it’ll take you to finish?”

“I don’t know. Maybe two more sessions? I’m already planning what I’m going to do next.”

“Oh? Is the next piece going to be something similar or something completely different?”

“I’m working on doing...a new technique. It’s something really detailed and time consuming so I don’t know if I’ll like it but I have another piece picked out that’ll use the same technique. We’ll see.”

The conversation is starting to get a little awkward because it’s so clear that his sub wants to tell him more information but he’s forcing himself not to. Thankfully, his sub changes the topic before Jeffrey can gently guide them in another direction.

“By the way, you’re running low on pills, aren’t you?”

Frowning, Jeffrey reaches into his bedside table. “Hang on…let me check.” Rummaging through the drawer, he takes out the small pill bottle that contains his anti-STI pills and glances at it. Yes, he’s running low. “Yeah, I only have a few left.”

“I picked up new batches for both of us. I’ll bring yours tomorrow.”

Sighing, Jeffrey makes a face. “I won’t get paid until next week, but I’ll give you some cash tomorrow.”

“And I keep telling you that you don’t have to give me anything for them. Not using condoms is amazing and paying for both our pills is something I’m happy to do.”

Jeffrey still doesn’t like it. “But—”

“But nothing. I’ve told you a thousand times that if it really bothers you, we can go back to using condoms and I’ll stop giving you the pills. But as long as I’m giving them to you, they’re a gift. I don’t need any money for them.”

“I’m gonna give you twenty dollars tomorrow.”

“If that makes you happy, then sure.”

It’s times like these that Jeffrey’s reminded that he and his sub might have a lot in common but their financial situations are a big difference between them. Since Jeffrey has no idea who his sub is, it had come as a shock when his sub had booked a luxury suite at the Hiveria Hotel downtown for their play sessions. But when Jeffrey had expressed concerns over not being able to cover his share of the costs, his sub had dismissed those concerns, just like he’s never minded that Jeffrey can’t afford to pay for his own pills. Jeffrey minds, but not enough to stop seeing him. The whole thing support his suspicions that his sub is a famous artist who is also ridiculously rich. Normally that would make Jeffrey feel ill at ease but he’s so comfortable around his sub that these thoughts no longer bother him and thankfully, it’s never bothered his sub either.

Letting out a soft sigh, Jeffrey presses his lips together. “I’ll give you forty next weekend.”

“Yeah…that’s gonna be a problem.”

Frowning, Jeffrey sits up, alarmed. “I—”

“Those aren’t my terms,” his sub says, a playful tone in his voice. “You know I’ll only accept twenty dollars and only once a week.”

Jeffrey chuckles. “I don’t wanna make you—”

“How many times do we have to have this conversion, hmm? You’re not making me do anything. These pills are my gift to you and I get a lot of benefit out of you using them. If you insist on me paying me, then as the seller, I have the right to set my payment terms and you know what those terms are. Be a good buyer and abide by them.”

Jeffrey laughs as a warm glow lights up in his chest. It’s times like these when his heart’s letting him know that there’s no doubt he’s fallen in love with his sub, regardless of how inconvenient and hopeless that is. “Fine, I’ll stick to your terms. Twenty dollars a week.”

His sub chuckles warmly. “Good. Now, tell me about the hockey game you watched last night. Hiveria played Esmon, didn’t they?”

His grin grows and he makes himself comfortable again, eager to dive into a discussion where they don’t have to dance around each other. “Yeah, we did. It was a really great game.”

“Tell me everything.”

They spend another hour chatting on the phone, which is normal for their evening routine. They talk about hockey and exchange very vague details about their work weeks and other odds and ends, but they steer clear of discussing his sub’s art.

Despite having to avoid certain topics, it’s a wonderful way to end his day. And no matter what, Jeffrey’s careful to keep the conversation from straying into sexual territory. He wants his sub getting a good night’s rest in preparation for tomorrow.

* * *

After talking to his dom for over an hour, Alex hangs up the phone and presses it to his bare chest where he’s lying sprawled out on his bed. Thankfully, his cock has calmed down from that earlier teasing. As much as Alex wants to fantasize about what tomorrow will bring, he’ll obey his dom’s orders to focus on getting a good night’s rest instead.

Remembering how close he’d come to telling his dom about his troubles with the book carving sculpture helps dampen his excitement a little bit. He loves being able to support his dom’s love for playing hockey and he wishes he could be as open with his own hobby, especially because he’s open about it with the rest of the world.

His social media account is wonderful and Alex loves being able to share such a personal part of himself. Referring to himself as just Alex Wallace on the account and portraying himself as the normal human being he really is has been such a joy. Even though the Grand Empress considers it unprofessional and Alex had to fight hard for permission to make the account and control it himself, it was worth the fight. He loves having the opportunity to make himself more relatable to the public and in contrast to his great aunt, he thinks it’s adding to the Royal Family’s public image rather than taking away from it. But unfortunately, the existence of the account makes sharing his hobby with his dom too much of a risk.

What makes the situation worse is that his dom always tries so hard to be supportive while also respecting Alex’s desire to keep his art very secretive. It makes conversations awkward and Alex tries not to bring up his art but his dom seems to want to show his support despite the limited role Alex allows him to play. In any case, it always makes Alex’s heart ache a bit.

But there’s no use on dwelling on things that can’t be changed and it’s better to think about the positives, such as remembering that he’ll get to see his dom tomorrow. He just has to wait a few more hours. Tomorrow, his dom will play hockey while Alex works on fixing the current disaster that is his book carving. Then he’ll throw on the itchy wig and fake glasses he wears to disguise himself in public and drive over to the hotel where it’ll finally be time for Alex to get his reward for having been a good boy all week.

He can’t wait!

* * *

Stepping off the palace staff shuttle bus in the middle of Neige and calling goodbye to the other staff members who are staying on for later stops, Jeffrey hurries through the crowds of people milling around on the sidewalks, his bag slung over his shoulder. It’s chilly out today and he sticks his hands into his pockets as he walks, eagerly heading towards the Hiveria Hotel as he clutches the hotel keycard in his pocket. As always, he’s going to be a bit early, but he can’t help himself.

He’s in a great mood and so is his sub. Jeffrey’s hockey game had gone very well and he’d managed to score two goals and one of them had been on a penalty kill. His sub had been overjoyed at hearing his good news, which had made Jeffrey even prouder of himself. Speaking of his sub, he’d had a very good morning too. Every time Jeffrey was off the ice during his game, he’d checked his phone to see if his sub had texted him an update and in the middle of third period he’d been rewarded when his sub had sent him a happy message that he’d fixed the prior problem he’d had with his art piece and he’ll be able to finish it next weekend.

And now it’s time for both of them to finish their cherished Sundays on an equally high note.

Instead of going into the hotel through the front entrance, Jeffrey walks around the back and enters the code that allows him to open the staff entrance. Being allowed to use the staff entrance at a place he doesn’t work at had been another new experience for him, but not having to go through the lobby really helps cut down on the number of people who might recognize him.

Thankfully, there’s nobody in the concrete hallway he steps into and he rushes to the staff elevator that will bring him up to the luxury suites floor.

The elevator drops him off at the end of the floor and Jeffrey only has to take a few steps until he’s at the room he needs. The ‘do not disturb’ light has already been turned on, which makes Jeffrey smile as his stomach coils with anticipation. His sub is early too.

Pulling his phone out, he quickly texts his sub, telling him he’s here. Within seconds, he gets a reply. _‘Okay, come in. I’m in the bathroom.’_

Jeffrey grins. _‘Good boy. You know the rules. Be patient and wait until I call you.’_

_‘Yes sir.’_

Unlocking the door, Jeffrey steps inside. Slight tension is keeping him stiff until he’s glanced around the room and confirmed that his sub wasn’t lying and isn’t trying to trick him into giving away his anonymity. The room’s empty and the bathroom light is shining below the closed door.

Excellent. Smiling, Jeffrey drops his bag, takes out his mask and pulls it on. Wearing the full head cover while having sex can get uncomfortable, but he’s used to it after all this time. Taking out the voice distortion clip, he attached it to the corner of his mouth and that’s when the last of his tension seeps out of him. No matter what happens, his identity and the reputation of the monarchy are now safe.

Now that his tension is gone, eagerness is shivering through him again and his hands are shaking as he quickly pulls out all the equipment he’ll need and hurries around the room, getting things set up.

In just a few minutes, he’ll have his sub all to himself for several hours and his favorite part of the week will start.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is full of the smutty goodness you (and Alex and Jeffrey) have been waiting for!

Sitting on the closed toilet lid, Alex tries to control his shaking as he grins behind his mask, his ears straining to hear his dom calling him. His hands itch to tear his clothes off and his hole twitches with eagerness, but none of these things can be touched yet. Not wearing any underwear beneath his pants is making him even more aware of his ass and what it’ll get to experience soon, but he needs to wait.

He can hear his dom moving around the hotel room as he gets things set up and Alex moans softly, arousal already simmering in his gut as his stiff cock presses against the cage. Reaching up, he rubs his fingers over the leather collar buckled on his neck. He’s intensely aware of the leather cuffs wrapped around his ankles and wrists and knowing that soon, they’ll be used to tie him to the bed for a thorough spanking and fucking makes his cock throb even more.

He’d bought the collar and wrist cuffs for himself years ago when he’d first discovered how much he enjoyed submissive things like that and watching videos of other people getting to enjoy wearing such things was no longer enough. He’d always loved putting them on, staring at himself in the mirror and touching them.

His fear of having his desires made public had always made him believe that he’d never get to make any of his fantasies come to life and it took years until he’d become brave enough to have some online relationships with doms. Even though those arrangements had still left Alex craving more, it had been a huge step forward. That’s how this current relationship had started too and Alex had never dreamed that they might be able to have a physical relationship too. Sometimes he still can’t believe that he’s lucky enough to have found somebody who makes his fantasies come to life while also accepting the ridiculous privacy concerns that Alex has. The fact that his dom has the exact same privacy demands makes things even more perfect. No matter what, Alex will do his best to keep this relationship going as long as possible. The sacrifices they both have to make are way more tolerable than not being together at all.

Finally, his dom calls for him. “I’m ready to see my good boy.”

His grin growing even bigger as it shifts the voice distortion clip on the corner of his mouth, Alex stands up and rushes out the door.

As usual, only the floor lamp in the corner of the room is lit, bathing the entire room in a soft, warm glow, in stark contrast to the cold weather outside. The black leather straps have been attached to the bed and his favorite paddle is sitting on the bedside table, the polished wood reflecting the dim light, perfectly positioned by his dom to get Alex hyped up. Alex’s breath picks up speed at the sight of it, but he needs to keep being a good boy and follow procedure if he’s going to get what he wants.

His dom is standing in the middle of the room, dressed in the casual, dark clothes he prefers for scenes. Despite the dark mask covering his head, his eyes are sparkling with the same joy that’s making Alex’s heart race and a small smile is tugging on the corner of his lips. It used to be strange that the only facial features he sees from his dom are his eyes and lips, but that’s all Alex needs to see. Along with the rest of his dom’s body, his eyes and lips tell Alex everything he needs to know.

Hurrying up to his dom, Alex clasps his hands behind his back and stands at attention as he bows his head respectfully, keeping his gaze on his dom’s socked feet. It’s always so nice to be the one who’s expected to bow in this scenario where the rest of his week is full of having to remember who he’s supposed to bow to and who bows to him. Here, there’s never any confusion and no risk of embarrassing himself like when he’d accidentally bowed to the housekeeper who he’d encountered in the corridor one early morning when his brain hadn’t fully turned on yet.

His cock is aching in the cage and he’s shaking from excitement, so desperate to have his dom touch him.

“There’s my good boy,” his dom says softly, that hint of fondness in his voice.

“Hello, sir,” Alex breathes out in a shaky voice, his heart racing.

“Ready to play?”

Another shiver runs through him. “Yes, sir.”

“Did you bring me a nice present to play with?”

Alex’s hips shift forward a bit, despite trying to stay still. He’s shaking so hard that his feet are almost moving. “Yes, sir.”

“Hmm. Let me see if the present is to my liking.”

It’s a struggle to hide his grin because of course, his cock is always to his dom’s liking. But having his dom appear to be fussy about things turns Alex on even more. It makes him feel like he has to earn his dom’s appreciation and he eagerly spends the rest of his week doing just that.

His dom steps forward and pops open the button on Alex’s slacks and achingly slowly pulls the zipper down, the pants bulging slightly over the metal cage beneath. Alex’s throat is tight as he stares down at his dom’s hands slowly opening his pants and he whines softly.

Not letting himself be rushed, his dom slowly peels open his pants and makes an appreciative sound as he stares at Alex’s hard cock throbbing within the metal cage. Alex loves his cage so much. He’d chosen one that has a webbed design and it’s beautiful and shiny. It’s also very strict and only gives his cock enough room to stiffen a bit before squeezing him tight, not allowing him to get relief until his dom releases him.

“Oh, that’s a gorgeous present,” his dom mutters, smiling as he wraps a hand around the warm metal and gently rubs some of the exposed skin through the holes in the cage. Just that little touch makes Alex’s arousal shoot even higher and he lets out a whine, shaking harder.

“You’ve been such a good boy, keeping my present wrapped up for me all week. I think it’s time I unwrap my present.”

Alex’s grin stretches ear to ear. “Yes, please,” he breathes out, anticipation making his heart race.

His dom reaches under his shirt and pulls out that precious, red key on the thin metal chain and takes it off while keeping his other hand wrapped around the cage. Reaching for the small padlock that sits at the top of the cage and keeps it locked together with the metal ring that circles around Alex’s balls, his dom unlocks it and pulls out the padlock.

Shaking, Alex stares down at his cock as it presses against the cage, that low pain fueling his arousal even more.

Using both hands, his dom gently twists and pulls on the cage and every time movement of the metal against his stiff and oversensitive cock sends a jolt of delicious pain through him, making Alex moan softly as he shakes. When the cage is half-way off, his dom focuses his attention on the metal ring that’s tightly wrapped around his balls and parts the ring before taking it off. Then comes the best part as his dom slowly pulls the cage the rest of the way off.

As soon as Alex’s cock is free, it springs up and stiffens fully. It feels as intense as it usually does, making Alex whine. His cock having been restrained for six whole days makes his full erection feel more arousing than it ever did before he’d started using the cage and he knows he could come just from standing here.

“There we go. Look at my beautiful present. Time for me to play with it.”

Letting out a soft sound, Alex can’t stop smiling. “Please,” he whispers, desperate to come. His cock is so happy to be free that he’s leaking already, beads of pre-cum oozing out and slowly dripping down his hard length.

“Soon, I promise,” his dom whispers, holding the cage parts in one hand while he gently brushes his fingers over Alex’s masked cheek. Turning away from Alex, his dom goes to the bedside table to put the cage parts down as Alex stays where he is.

When his dom comes back, he’s smiling as he puts his hands on Alex’s masked face and leans up to make up for their height difference and kisses his forehead. “What a good boy. You’re my precious, good boy.”

His dom sounds so happy and Alex is getting so overwhelmed that he wants to burst into tears. He’s turned on, proud of himself and just so, so happy. He loves being his dom’s good boy. How did he ever get so lucky?

“Clothes off.”

As soon as the order comes, Alex instantly takes off his pants and unbuttons his shirt, quickly folding them up and draping them over the nearby chair before returning to his standing position, his hands clasped behind his back again.

His dom takes his time staring at him and drinking him in—which is part of the reason Alex makes sure to go to the palace gym at least twice a week—before his dom smiles and gives him his next order. “Get on the bed. On your back, knees spread.”

It’s an order Alex had known would come. It’s a good precaution to take because his first orgasm after being locked up is always so intense that he’ll fall over if he has to stay standing. They’d learned that the hard way.

Shaking, Alex hurries to the bed that’s been stripped down to the sheets and covered in towels. He’s struggling to breathe, so desperate to have his dom touch him and it’s difficult to lie down and get into the right position, but they’ve done this so many times that his legs and arms are moving without him having to think about. He plants his feet on the bed and spreads his knees, leaving his ass and cock fully exposed. He raises his arms and flings them towards the corners of the bed where the straps are waiting.

His dom slowly walks over to him and stands next to the bed, gazing down at him. Lying on the bed like this while his dom is still wearing clothes makes Alex feel so exposed and slutty and it’s wonderful. Stepping up to the head of the bed, his dom gently grabs Alex’s wrist and clips one of the leather straps to it. The first one never makes Alex feel much, but as his dom walks around the bed and slowly binds each strap to his wrist and ankle cuffs, pressure slowly builds as Alex gets more and more restrained. Once he’s fully bound to the bed and unable to move more than a few inches with either his arms or legs, Alex’s arousal shoots even higher.

Now, there’s absolutely no way he can touch his cock or any other part of himself. Before this, it had only been his self-discipline that prevented him from doing it. Now, he physically can’t do it and the feeling of being restrained and in his dom’s control is as powerful as it always is. Well, technically he could undo the restraints if he really wanted to because his dom always arranges the clips on his wrist cuffs so Alex could undo them. That’s something he and his dom had agreed upon when they’d started doing full bondage because the first time his dom had restrained him like this, things had gone completely sideways.

Alex had been focused on how turned on he was and his excitement. Having never been fully restrained in real life before, he’d completely forgotten what a vulnerable position it puts him in. When his dom had clipped the restraints to his cuffs, fear had shot through Alex as he’d realized that there was nothing stopping his dom from taking Alex’s mask off and discovering his identity. There was also nothing stopping his dom from taking pictures of him and ruining his entire life—not to mention embarrassing the entire monarchy. Yes, his dom would pay the price because the palace would implement the penalties built into the NDA, but the damage would already be done.

Thankfully, his dom had recognized his panic immediately and undone the clips without Alex having to safeword out. It had been a strange situation because Alex had been wanting his dom’s comfort but he was also scared of his dom. It had taken ages for his dom to coax out what Alex was scared of and thankfully, his dom had been fully understanding. While his dom is just as desperate to keep his anonymity in tact, he’s not taking the same risks during scenes that Alex is. But Alex really did trust his dom and he’d been determined to make his fantasies come to life. Working together, they’d figured out how they could restrain Alex in a way that gave him the illusion of being fully under his dom’s control but would still allow Alex to undo the restraints if he wanted to. He’s never needed to take advantage of his escape routes but knowing they’re there allows Alex to fully submit to his dom and not get distracted by his worries.

His dom is smiling down at him. “My beautiful boy. So desperate to come, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex mumbles, his throat very tight. His eyes are brimming with tears and his arousal is pounding through him and he might come without anybody touching him.

His dom lightly runs a finger up and down his stiff, wet cock and just that small touch sends intense shivers of heat through him and Alex grabs the leather straps as he cries out, his throat tightening.

“Not yet,” his dom whispers. “Not yet. Hang on just a little while longer. I wanna play with your hole for a little while.”

Letting out a small sob, Alex nods. The only thing better than coming after being locked up is having his dom teasing him. “Yes, sir.”

Pulling out a small bottle of lube, his dom slicks up his fingers and climbs onto the bed between Alex’s legs, still fully dressed. He rubs the back of his hand over Alex’s inner thighs and his hole twitches again. He whines softly as he stares down at his dom, so desperate to have his dom keep using him any way he wants to.

His whine makes his dom smile, his eyes shining as he reaches down and lightly rubs two slick fingers over his hole, which takes Alex’s breath away as his arousal gets pushed even higher and his cock throbs desperately, spurting a bit of pre-cum.

His dom chuckles, sounding delighted. “Look at how well behaved my boy is. My present isn’t as well behaved, but my precious boy is keeping it under control, aren’t you? You’re not gonna come until I decide it’s time.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex mumbles, his jaw clenched as his heart races. The words are barely more than a mumble, but it doesn’t matter.

His dom slides two slick fingers into him and slowly thrusts in and out of his hole and that additional stimulation makes Alex tense up as he cries out.

“Good boy. What a good boy. I’m so proud of you. Just a little while longer.”

Squeezing his eyes shut and feeling like he’s about to rip the restraints off the head of the bed, Alex’s entire world narrows down to his throbbing cock, his dom’s fingers leisurely fucking him and his dom’s soft praise. It’s getting even harder to breathe and tears start running down his face and soaking into his mask. He’s letting out choked cries and whines that he has no control over as his arms and legs tense against the straps holding them in place. The fact that the restraints are stopping him makes the whole thing even more arousing.

“That’s my good boy. You’re doing so well. Look at you, obeying your dom so well even after a whole week of not coming. You’re my amazing boy.”

Despite how overwhelmed he feels, the words make Alex’s heart glow and he grins. “Thank you, sir,” he chokes out.

His dom leans over and kisses his forehead, his lips warm even through the mask on Alex’s face. Alex loves those little forehead kisses so much and he lets out a shaky moan, which earns him a fond chuckle and two more kisses as his dom keeps fucking him slowly.

Finally, the fingers pull out of him and a warm hand wraps around his cock as a gentle thumb rubs over his slit. These days, it’s always incredibly intense to feel something other than his cage touching his cock and Alex’s entire body seizes up as his breath catches.

“Let me see my good boy come.”

Within seconds, Alex lets go and every muscle in his body stiffens as his orgasm slams through him. One intense wave after another crashes through him. As usual, it’s more powerful than any orgasm Alex used to have before he’d started using the cage and he’s sobbing and gasping through it, his dom’s quiet praise seeming to come from very far away.

When he’s finally done, he’s left crying and shaking, slumped on the bed and feeling overwhelmed and incredibly happy. Alex gets another forehead kiss and he manages to make a small sound and twist his lips into a small smile.

“That’s my good boy. You did so well! Just relax and let yourself come down. You know this was just the start and you need to get your strength back before the real fun starts.”

Eventually, Alex manages to pry his eyes open, still streaming tears.

His dom is grinning down at him. “There you are. Thought I’d have to play with my present all by myself.”

Alex lets out a weak chuckle. “I’m here, sir.” It’s a stupid thing to say, but his brain is floating somewhere far away still.

His dom laughs. “Yeah, you are. Ready for more?”

Alex nods eagerly, but he’s in no condition to move his own limbs right now. His arms and legs feel like they belong to somebody else. Thankfully, there’s one part of his body that he can easily move until he’s calmed down and he can spend that time doing one of his favorite activities: sucking his dom’s cock.

Sure enough, his dom comes around and climbs on the bed between Alex’s outstretched arms and settles with his knees on either side of Alex’s head. There’s a bulge in his pants and Alex’s mouth waters as he whines softly.

His dom grins down at him and gently rubs Alex’s wet mask with his fingers. “Eager for your dom’s cock, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex mumbles. He’s still exhausted, but a thrill of excitement shivers through him, eager to keep being used by his dom. His dom always takes such good care of him and gives Alex so many wonderful opportunities to serve his dom the way Alex loves doing.

Turning his head to the side, Alex relaxes and opens his mouth. His dom gently takes the voice distortion clip off his mouth, which means it’s time for Alex to stop talking. But that’s okay—his mouth will be too busy to do any talking and that’s the point.

His dom puts a gentle hand underneath his jaw and guides his cock into Alex’s mouth. Moaning softly as his dom’s familiar cock fills his mouth and stretches his lips, Alex relaxes into the bed and closes his eyes. He’s so damn glad that his dom lets Alex pay for the pills so Alex can taste his dom’s cock without a stupid condom getting in the way.

His dom keeps one hand under his jaw and puts his other hand on top of Alex’s head, keeping his head locked in place as he fucks Alex’s mouth.

His dom’s cock slides in and out of his mouth, pressing against his tongue and Alex loves that he knows it’s his dom’s cock just from the shape and taste of it. Not having the voice distortion device on used to scare him, but having his dom’s cock filling his mouth, pressing down his tongue and literally keeping him from talking and giving himself away always makes him feel like his dom’s cock is protecting him, which is stupid and weird but Alex loves it.

Groaning softly, his dom rubs his thumb over Alex’s mask-covered chin. “Good boy. You look incredible. Look how good you’re doing, sucking my cock.”

The praise sends a shiver through Alex and he moans around his dom’s cock, which makes his dom’s breath catch and his hands tighten on his face as he fucks Alex’s mouth harder.

Alex isn’t the best at sucking cock and his dom never pushes him to do more than he’s comfortable doing. Deep throating is a skill he’s never been able to master but his dom’s happy keeping his thrusts confined to his mouth as he varies his pace. His dom’s breathing gets a bit choppy as he chokes out praise here and there, using Alex’s mouth however he wants to.

All Alex has to do is lie there and let his mouth get used and it’s wonderful. He doesn’t have to remember a million different rules. He doesn’t have to worry  about other people’s opinions. He isn’t responsible for maintaining the reputation of an institution that’s thousands of years old and can be destroyed with one wrong word or misplaced glance. The only person he has to please is his dom and he knows how to do that. Those rules are straight-forward and never change.

He’s not even worried about anybody seeing what he’s doing right now because his dom would protect him. Alex has no idea how his dom would do that, but his dom’s grip on him is always so strong and his words are always filled with such affection. Especially in this position, Alex is surrounded and filled by his dom’s protection, so Alex is sure his dom’s capable of taking care of anything that might happen.

Eventually, his dom’s thrusts pick up speed and his cock is leaking into Alex’s mouth, which makes Alex eagerly tightens his lips around his slick length, tensing with anticipation. Sure enough, his dom lets out a soft groan and Alex’s mouth is filled with the familiar, bitter taste of his dom’s cum. The stickiness coats his mouth and his dom keeps sliding his cock through it, filling his mouth with more cum.

“Swallow my cum.”

As his dom pulls his cock back a bit, Alex manages to swallow, bringing his dom’s cum down into his throat. He’s so damn proud of himself for making his dom come and sure enough, his dom is proud of him too. “Good boy! What a good boy! That felt so good. Get my cock nice and clean for me but no talking.”

When his dom pulls his cock out of his mouth and releases his head, Alex opens his eyes and eagerly sticks his tongue out, gently lapping at the sticky length and using his lips and tongue to get every last drop of cum off his dom’s cock. He’s grateful that his dom reminds him not to talk when he doesn’t have the clip back on yet because Alex might forget one day. But his dom won’t let that happen.

His dom’s breathing hard and one of his shaking hands rubs Alex’s collar. “That’s my precious boy. Good job.”

The praise makes Alex smile as he gives his dom’s cock little licks until he’s soft. Eventually, his dom presses his cock back into his pants and shifts back a bit, bending over Alex as he clips the voice distortion device back onto the corner of Alex’s mouth. His dom covers Alex’s face in soft kisses, nuzzling the mask while his voice distortion clip drags against it and his hands rub Alex’s collar.

“My amazing boy,” he murmurs against Alex’s cheek as Alex drifts, proud and happy. “You did so good. Sundays are my favorite days of the week.”

“Mine too, sir,” Alex mumbles, smiling.

As his dom kisses his face, Alex momentarily forgets what’s happening and waits for his dom to kiss his lips...then he remembers they don’t do that.

That sends  a familiar cold shiver through him and Alex blinks rapidly to push it back. It’s not the first time he’s been desperate for his dom to kiss him on the lips, but it always leaves him feeling a bit thrown. His dom had been firm that he doesn’t like adding that type of kissing into his non-romantic BDSM relationships. Since that’s what they have and that’s all they can ever have, Alex has to accept that. His dom cares deeply about him and they’re affectionate with each other because that’s the type of play they like doing, but that’s as far as things can ever go. How on earth could they ever have anything more when they don’t even know each other’s real names and circumstances prevent them from ever telling each other their real names?

His dom pulls back and frowns down at him, rubbing his cheeks with his thumbs. “You okay? Gimme a go, slow or stop.”

Alex smiles and pushes all thoughts of getting kissed on the lips aside.  This falls into the same category as not being able to share his art with his dom.  It’s a small price to pay for getting something this amazing every week and he hates worrying his dom. His dom knows him so well by now that he rarely has to stop and check in with  him , but it makes Alex feel good that his dom noticed his mood shift and automatically wants to know how he’s feeling. “I’m fine, sir.”

“Gimme one of the words,” his dom demands, still looking worried.

He needs to distract his dom quickly or he might dig further to find out what’s wrong and learning that one of his dom’s rules kind of bothers Alex might result in his dom deciding to break things off for Alex’s own good, and that’s the last thing he wants. “It’s go, I promise. I’m just eager to get spanked, sir.”

His dom’s frown vanishes and he laughs, lightly slapping his cheek. “You’re insatiable. Okay, let’s get going.”

Climbing off the bed, his dom unclips his hands and feet. “Flip over and get that ass up.”

Rolling over onto his front, he stretches his arms out to the waiting straps again and spreads his knees as wide as he comfortably can and lifts his ass.

Sticking his ass up like this and feeling the slick lube that’s still covering his hole reminds him of what’s to come and that pushes all other thoughts out of his head as Alex eagerly waits.

His dom walks around the bed and snaps the clips back on, re-adjusting Alex’s knees and hands the way he wants and straightening out the towel underneath him. When his dom’s satisfied, he walks to the bedside table and Alex shivers with anticipation as he waits for his dom to pick up the paddle. But to his surprise, his dom picks up a vibrating plug instead, which makes Alex moan.

Turning back to him, his dom holds up the toy and grins at him. “You’ve been such a good boy all week and you were so patient with me last week so I think this week calls for a special treat.”

Alex’s shaking intensifies and he grins hard, his hole already twitching. “Thank you, sir,” he breathes out.

His dom takes his time carefully rubbing lube over the toy and Alex can’t take his eyes off it. His cock gives a halfhearted twitch as arousal coils in his gut again. It’s too early for him to get hard again, but it won’t take long. He knows how good the plug will feel and it’ll make the spanking even more intense than it usually is.

Smiling, his dom turns the wireless plug on and gently touches it against Alex’s back. The gentle buzzing spreads through his skin and knowing how good it’ll feel when his dom uses it on more intimate parts of him makes Alex whimper softly. When his dom slides the plug down to his chest and gently drags it over his nipples, Alex’s arousal rapidly climbs and he gasps out a choked breath as his arms shake and nearly crumble. His arms will eventually collapse, but Alex likes seeing how long he can hold out.

“Good boy,” his dom murmurs, rubbing the tip of the vibrating toy over his nipples. “What a good boy.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Alex feels his cock starting to stiffen as the vibrations move through him. His dom presses the buzzing toy harder against his nipple, which makes Alex’s arms shake harder.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathes out.

His dom chuckles fondly. “Already cursing? And I haven’t even rubbed it over your hole yet.”

Alex lets out a shaky chuckle. “I forgot how good it feels,” he mumbles, loving the vibrations that are making his nipples tighten up as they get more sensitive the longer his dom plays with them.

Then his dom makes things even better by reaching under his chest and grabbing one of his nipples between his fingers and pinching it hard while the vibrator is pressed against his other nipple. Alex cries out from the delicious combination of pain and pleasure and his arms nearly collapse as his dom tugs sharply on his nipple. It’s not as intense as the nipple clamps, but when his dom releases his oversensitive nipple and presses the buzzing toy against it, the surge of arousal that rushes through him makes Alex cry out louder than before. His cock twitching and his dom could easily make him come just by continuing to play with his nipples and he knows it.

But his dom had made him a promise and he sticks to it. Eventually, he pulls the toy away from Alex’s chest and rubs a gentle hand over his aching nipple. “Shhh, breathe. That’s my good boy.”

Alex’s arms nearly crumble a few times, but he follows his dom’s order and sucks in deep breaths.

Thankfully, his dom distracts him by stepping behind him and sliding three lubed fingers into his hole, which sends a less intense but soothing pleasure through him. “Good boy. That’s my good boy. Deep breaths.”

Once Alex has calmed down a bit, his dom presses the vibrating plug against his hole, which pulls a loud moan out of Alex and pushes his arousal up again. His dom has mercy on him and doesn’t tease him like he sometimes does. Instead, he slides the vibrating toy into him, Alex’s hole twitching against the low vibrations. The vibrator is on a low setting, but Alex knows that’s going to change soon. His dom’s still letting him settle down for what’s to come.

When the plug is securely inside him and the low vibrations are sending pleasant waves through his body, his dom turns up the vibrations a bit. The plug is pressing right against his prostate and Alex chokes out a cry as the vibrations go straight to his cock and makes it throb again.

Alex’s eyes are still squeezed shut and he’s concentrating so hard on keeping his arms up that he’s not aware of his dom stepping away. But the instant he feels the soft fuzz from his favorite paddle against his ass, his eyes fly open and he moans eagerly and presses his ass against it as much as he can.

His dom laughs, rubbing the soft fabric over his ass. “Yeah, I don’t know who’s more excited for this: you or me.”

“Me, sir,” Alex mutters, grinning. “Fuck. Definitely me.”

He’s nearly forgotten about the vibrating toy in his ass because of how distracted he is by the paddle, but as his dom keeps sliding the fuzzy side of the paddle over his ass, the vibrations suddenly get stronger. The intense vibrations are impossible to ignore now and Alex closes his eyes again as his body shivers from arousal.

“There we go,” his dom murmurs. “When you’re capable of answering me in semi-coherent sentences, I know I’m not doing my job right.”

Alex manages to choke out a laugh, but the vibrations seem to be centering on his aching cock and when his dom starts tapping the fuzzy side of the paddle against his ass, all other thoughts vanish from Alex’s head.

The tapping isn’t very arousing, but it’s the promise of what’s to come that’s keeping Alex tense and eagerly bracing himself. Any second now...there won’t be any warning...any second now his dom will—

—the first crack of the wooden side of the paddle against his ass is as shocking and painful as it always is and Alex cries out and his cock twitches as pain flares over his ass. He tenses from the pain, which squeezes the vibrating plug harder against his prostate and kicks his arousal even higher. His tension pulls the restraints on his wrists and ankles tighter, which makes everything more arousing. Jesus, he loves that first strong hit so much.

His dom used to follow a strict pattern when spanking him, but when Alex had expressed being a little bored by the routine and had given his dom permission to structure the spankings any way he wants, Alex never gets the same experience twice and that makes things even better. He’s gotten more accustomed to the pain over time and he no longer needs a lengthy warm up, which his dom happily takes advantage of.

He’s expecting another hit and braces himself, but all he gets is a few light taps on different parts of his ass. His body can’t help but settle into the taps and his dom knows it, which is why two sudden hard strikes on different parts of his ass take him by surprise. That’s followed by the paddle gently rubbing over his ass, which is starting to burn a little.

“Good boy. Doing so well. That’s my good boy. Time to give your ass some real color back.”

That’s all the warning Alex gets before his dom lays down three hard strikes, one right after the other which take Alex’s breath away. That’s followed by quick, light taps which feel more intense now that his ass is getting more sensitive. His dom switches between the hits randomly but he’s always careful not to lay down too many hard strikes on the same part of his ass. Alex fully trusts his dom and he doesn’t have to do anything but keep his eyes closed and enjoy the pain and pleasure that are pounding through him. As always, the pain makes the pleasure feel more intense as his body releases happy hormones to compensate for the pain, which creates a wonderful cycle that Alex loves so much.

Then things get even more intense when his dom increases the strength of his hits. Alex gets no warning except when he feels the next strike. His ass is so sensitive by now that the harder blows are incredibly intense and the mixture of pain and pleasure overwhelm Alex completely.

“What a good boy. You’re doing great. Your ass is nicely pink now. You’re gonna feel this for days.”

He can barely breathe and his mask is wet so he must be crying, which is normal. His ass is tightly clenched around the vibrating plug and that’s making the vibrations even more intense, which adds to the whirl of pain and pleasure that’s pounding through him. The pain pushes his arousal even higher until Alex’s entire world narrows down to his burning ass and his throbbing cock. At some point, his shaking arms collapse but he only notices because his face is suddenly mushed into the towel beneath him.

Thankfully, his dom turns his head sideways so Alex can keep breathing as he sobs and moans. His ass is on fire and he’s rapidly approaching the point of no return. His dom is giving him light taps but when he cracks another hard hit over his ass, Alex’s breath catches and he almost comes. Clenching his jaw hard, Alex pants and lets out a panicked whine, not wanting to disobey his dom and come before he’s given permission.

Thankfully, his dom understands all of his little sounds by now. Immediately, the plug is switched off, which helps pull him back from the edge.

“Shhh...breathe. That’s my good boy. Just breathe. We’re done with the spanking. I’m gonna fuck my good boy and then you can come.”

The thought of his dom fucking him and coming inside of him makes Alex smile as he lies there, tense and shaking, his well spanked ass high up in the air and his legs still eagerly parted as his hard cock throbs between his legs. Sometimes he tries to imagine what he must look like in these moments but it’s too embarrassing to dwell on. He’s just grateful his dom doesn’t know who he is and won’t ever judge him because of what Alex likes.

His hole twitches at being empty, but thankfully, his dom quickly slides into him, filling him up. His dom moans softly and starts fucking him hard, purposefully smacking his hips into Alex’s burning ass and making him cry out as he clutches the towels and his cock aches with a desperate need to come.

“What a good boy,” his dom choked out, fucking him hard. “My good boy. Did so well. I’m so proud of you.”

Without warning, his dom smacks his ass hard with his hand as he’s fucking him and Alex cries out at the unexpected hit, his cock spurting a bit of pre-cum over his chest as he pants into the towels.

His dom keeps fucking him and spanking his sore ass, praising him and Alex loves every moment of it. Alex could lie here for eternity, tied to the bed and letting his dom fuck his spanked ass while he floats in a warm haze of good feelings. The small bursts of pain that erupt every time his dom touches his sensitive ass keep Alex’s tears streaming down his face as he shakes and smiles against the towels.

Eventually, his dom groans softly and Alex feels him coming inside of him, filling him up with his cum. That makes Alex’s smile grow bigger. He doesn’t know why, but he loves having his dom’s cum dripping out of his well spanked ass.

Groaning, his dom slowly pulls out of him and parts Alex’s cheeks, digging his fingers into Alex’s burning skin and making him moan softly, his cock still aching.

“Now that’s a beautiful ass,” his dom mumbles, sounding breathless. “Thoroughly spanked, fucked and filled with cum. Gorgeous.” His dom sounds so happy that Alex’s grin grows.

He’d love to spend the rest of his life right here. He’d stay tied to the bed all the time, his ass in the air and his dom could come in and spank him and tease him and fuck him any time he wants. Alex’s only responsibility in the world would be to stay on the bed and serve his dom whenever he wants. It would be a wonderful life. Way less stressful than his actual life. And a lot more enjoyable. It’s not that he doesn’t love his life but being his dom’s good boy is a whole new level of joy that he never thought he’d get to experience in real life.

“Time for my precious boy to come. You’ve earned it.”

Alex’s thoughts skid to a halt when his dom’s hand wraps around his sensitive cock and  strokes him a few times. That’s all Alex needs and his orgasm slams through him, taking his breath away. Despite this being his second orgasm of the day, the pain from his burning ass makes it almost as intense as the first one usually is.

He’s left gasping and moaning into the towel as his dom keeps quietly praising him, working his cock and coaxing more cum out of him. Once Alex is done, he can’t move. He just stays where he is, panting into the towels, his body still shaking and over sensitive as his dom’s cum drips down his legs.

His dom gently rubs his back. “Good boy. That’s my wonderful boy. Just relax and I’ll take care of everything.”

All Alex has to do is lie there with his eyes closed and enjoy how amazing he feels. Oh, what he wouldn’t do to feel like this all the time. Once a week is better than nothing, but it’s still not nearly enough. But that’s all he and his dom have time for with their busy and secret schedules, so all Alex can do is cherish every single second he has with his dom.

His thoughts drift from one thing to another and he’s so busy listening to his own breathing as it slows that he’s unaware of what his dom is doing until the gentle touch of cool fingers against his burning ass pull him out of his thoughts and he lets out a little whimper. He loves it and hates it at the same time. It’s not enough but also too much.

His dom chuckles. “Yeah, it’s moisturizer time. Just relax and enjoy it.”

Alex blinks his eyes open and blearily stares around himself. His dom has unclipped the straps from his wrists and ankles and Alex’s legs have been pulled out from under him, leaving him sprawled out on the bed.

The cooling moisturizer feels so soothing against his ass and Alex sighs softly as he melts into the bed. He loves that every part of his ass has been  used by his dom. His dom’s hands have covered his ass in fiery pain, intense pleasure and soothing relief while his dom’s cum is filling him up.

“More moisturizer?” his dom asks.

“Yes, please, sir,” Alex mumbles.

His dom obliges and lightly rubs more moisturizer over his burning ass, which feels amazing. Once that’s done, his dom gently lifts Alex’s head and presses the nub of a water bottle against his lips.

“Drink.”

Alex obeys immediately, not worried about what might be in the bottle. After everything they’d been through, he trusts his dom fully. Cool water fills his mouth and soothes his parched throat. As usual, Alex hadn’t even noticed how thirsty he’d gotten. Once he’s had his fill, he pulls back from the bottle.

His dom slides a pillow under Alex’s head and lies down next to him, gently rubbing his back as he nuzzles his face; their masks between them. “My good boy.” He chuckles softly. “You should see your ass. It’s glowing. You’re gonna be so distracted all week.”

Alex smiles, thrilled. “Thank you, sir.”

His dom kisses his mask-covered temple. “Thank you for being my good boy.”

As they lie there, Alex can’t help but wish that his dom allowed them to be more physically intimate during aftercare. His dom takes very good care of him after scenes, but Alex would love to cuddle with his dom and exchange lazy kisses as they wait for Alex to fully regain control of his body. Unfortunately, that’s another one of his dom’s rules. Face kisses and back rubbing is the most his dom will give him because anything else would be crossing his dom’s personal line. It sucks, but Alex would rather live with his dom’s rules than not have his dom at all.

Alex dozes for a while as his dom lightly rubs his back, praising him with soft words. “That’s my good boy. My precious boy. You did so well.”

Slowly, his dom’s fingers glide further down and gently slide over his sensitive ass, making Alex shiver and moan while his dom chuckles. “Look at this beautiful ass. So red and sore. You’re my gorgeous boy. I’m so proud of you.”

Sometimes his dom will keep touching his ass for a while or slide up to his back again. Then he sits up and gently parts Alex’s cheeks and touches the sticky cum that’s still coating his hole. The reminder that he’s lying here with his spanked and fucked ass on display for his dom always makes Alex feel very naughty and very happy.

His dom lightly rubs his sticky hole and gently slips a fingertip into him. Alex tries clenching around his finger, but his muscles aren’t cooperating, which is arousing on a whole other level.

“I love looking at your slutty hole when it’s still loose from my cock and covered in my cum. One of these days, I’m gonna get some edible lube so I can fuck your slutty hole with my tongue when it’s covered in my cum. You’d like that, huh?”

Arousal coils in his stomach again and Alex moans softly. “Yes, please. Sir.”

His dom chuckles and gently slides his sticky finger tip into him again, easily slipping into Alex’s loose hole. Jesus, he loves everything about this. He can never decide what his favorite part of their play sessions is: the anticipation beforehand, the drawn-out teasing when things get going, the intense spanking and fucking, or the quiet, intimate aftercare where his dom takes care of him so well and reminds Alex with every touch and every word how good Alex has been during their session.

Eventually, Alex can keep his eyes open for longer periods and he feels good enough to gently roll to his side and his dom gets a wet cloth and cleans the cum off his chest. He doesn’t clean his ass because that’s part of their later ritual. Pressing Alex’s top leg back, his dom carefully inspects his soft cock, frowning as he looks for any signs of trouble from the cage. “Everything’s still looking good. You’d tell me immediately if there’s any problem with the cage, right?”

Alex smiles sleepily. “Of course, I would, sir. It’s very comfortable.”

His dom frowns down at him. “You’re sure? The ring hinge isn’t pinching?”

“Nope. This one’s perfect, I promise.”

Slowly, his dom smiles and crawls over to kiss his forehead. “Okay. Let’s get my present clean and wrapped up.”

Alex grins as he closes his eyes and sprawls back out on his front while his dom goes into the bathroom to thoroughly wash his cage. He always insists on being the one to clean the cage and Alex’s cock on Sundays, which suits both of them very well. Alex loves that he literally never touches his own cock anymore and he never touches the cage when it’s not locked on his cock. On the other hand, his dom had been so hesitant about the whole idea that it makes him feel better if he’s the one cleaning and inspecting everything. It works out very well.

Alex dozes off a bit while he waits, but when his dom calls for him, Alex slowly gets up and pads into the bathroom.

His dom is finishing washing the cage and he gestures into the shower. Without needing to be told anything, Alex opens the shower door and steps inside, clasping his hands behind his back and waiting patiently for his dom.

When his dom is done with his cage, he steps into the shower and takes down the hand-held shower head and gently turns the water on, spraying the lukewarm water over Alex’s cock. Alex keeps his breathing even as his dom coats his hands in soap and gently washes his cock and balls. The experience isn’t arousing but for some reason, this feels even more intimate than anything they’d done before. His dom’s always saying that he wants their relationship to firmly stay in the ‘friends’ territory, but Alex always has trouble remembering that when his dom is so lovingly and attentively washing the most intimate parts of him.

His dom takes his time washing him and also shaving the little bit of pubic hair that has started growing back. Getting hair caught in the cage or in the ring is an unbelievably painful experience and Alex happily spreads his legs so his dom can get him clean and smooth. His dom never trusts the hotel’s bathing supplies and always insists on bringing his own things, which makes Alex feel even more special. His dom won’t let strange products touch his sub’s cock. But Alex has been careful not to let his dom know how much he loves their bathing routine because he’s worried that his dom hasn’t noticed how intimate it feels and he might think that Alex is getting the wrong idea and he’ll change their routine. Then Alex will have to wash his own cock and that would be sad.

Once his front is done, his dom gestures for him to turn around. Thankfully, his dom doesn’t tease him and doesn’t touch his sensitive ass. He gently cleans his crack and between his legs with soap and a quick rinse, the lukewarm water nicely soothing against his heated skin. Then it’s time to step out of the shower and his dom gently dries him with a towel. When Alex is dry, it’s time for his favorite part.

“Lie down on your back. Feet up and knees spread,” his dom says and Alex lies down on the bath mat on the bathroom floor, lifting his knees and spreading them as he stares down at his cock. The second the mat touches his sore ass, Alex twitches, but he pushes aside the discomfort because what’s about to happen is much more important than his sore ass. Within just a few minutes, his cock will once again be locked in that precious cage, staying safe and untouched until next week. It’s an arousing thought but Alex blinks up at the ceiling and makes his mind go blank. Putting the cage on while he’s hard isn’t possible and if things are taking too long, his dom will have to leave and Alex will have to put the cage on himself, which would be sad.

His dom kneels between his legs and gently coats his cock and balls with lube, keeping his touch firm enough to get lube where he needs it but not firm enough to be arousing. Then the cage and cock ring get lubed up too. Finally, his dom glances down at him. “Ready for me to lock my present away for another week?”

Alex grins. As much as he loves his cock being free, he loves being in his cage and he especially loves having his dom in charge of putting it on him and taking it off him. “Yes, sir.”

His dom’s eyes are sparkling, then his smile disappears as he frowns in concentration. He opens the hinged cock ring and gently lifts Alex’s balls as he slides the ring underneath and pulls it closed. The cool metal gently squeezes around his balls as the ring closes and Alex shivers from excitement, but takes a calming breath and stares hard at the ceiling.

“Breathe. That’s my good boy. Just breathe. Don’t think about what it means or you’ll get turned on.”

“I’m trying, sir.”

“I know. You’re doing really well. Deep breaths.”

His dom wraps his hand around his cock and gently slides the cool metal cage over it. The touch of the hard, cold metal is incredible but Alex clenches his jaw and hands and keeps breathing as his heart pounds in his chest. He knows he shouldn’t look down, but he can’t resists. He waits until the cage has been fully pulled over his cock and that’s when Alex dares to glance down.

His dom slides the pressed together lock pins on top of the cock ring through the hole at the top of the cage. He works as quickly and gently as he can and Alex holds his breath as he stares at his dom picking up the open padlock next to him and sliding the U-shaped bar through the lock pins. Twisting the small padlock around, his dom closes the lock; the quiet click sending a shiver of arousal through Alex and his cock stiffens and he’s left panting up at the ceiling as his cock presses against the hard cage. Once more, it’s been locked up until his dom decides to take it out again and Alex loves everything about it.

“Stand up and tell me how it feels,” his dom demands, sounding worried.

Hearing that concerned tone in his dom’s voice, Alex pushes his arousal back and lifts his arms. His dom climbs to his feet and helps  him stand up. Alex shifts around a bit and ignores his sore ass as he focuses on the cage, feeling if there’s any pinching or pain as his dom crouches down and frowns at his caged cock. “It feels good, sir.”

“No pain? No pinching?”

Shaking his head, Alex grins down at him. The metal is already heating up from his body temperature and it’s turning into that firm and heavy grip on his cock and balls that Alex adores. “It feels wonderful. Thank you, sir.”

His dom smiles, the last trace of worry fading from his eyes. Staring at Alex’s caged cock, he lets out a long breath. “I’ve told you that this is one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen, haven’t I?”

Alex chuckles. “You can tell me as many times as you want, sir.”

“Well, that and your ass. Lemme see it.”

Grinning, Alex turns around and eagerly sticks his ass out. It’s still very sore and he knows it’s a fiery red color.

His dom moans softly. “Fuck, I can’t tell which side of you I’d rather stare at.”

Turning back around, Alex smiles down at him. “You could put me on a rotating pedestal and stick me in front of a chair. You could just sit there and I’d just turn and turn all day.”

His dom laughs and gets off the floor and leans up to kiss him on the forehead and presses his hands against his masked face as he smiles at him. “I wouldn’t get anything done, but that’s a sacrifice I’ll happily make.” Taking his hands off Alex’s face, he jerks his head to the door. “Come on, moisturizer and relaxing time.”

And that phrase is how Alex knows that their dom-sub time is now finished and they’re back to just-friends territory. After taking the towels off the bed, they sprawl out on the bed—Alex on his front and his dom on his back—Alex yawns and makes himself comfortable as his dom drinks from the water bottle.

“How’s your next week looking?” his dom asks, putting the bottle down and grabbing the moisturizer. Squeezing a generous amount onto his hands, he shifts down the bed and gently rubs it onto Alex’s sensitive ass.

Alex twitches a bit, but the cooling lotion feels as good as it always does, not to mention his dom’s hands are always full of such affection when they do this. He loves it, but he’s careful not to comment about it. “Pretty routine. Nothing special.”

“Yeah, me too.”

That reminds Alex about the presents he has for his dom. “Oh, by the way, I have your pills in my bag.”

His dom smiles and rolls off the bed. “Then it’s time for me to get you your twenty dollars.”

Alex watches him, too lazy to get up. “You wanna throw me my bag while you’re up?”

Laughing, his dom tosses him his bag. “My boy’s a little lazy after a good spanking and fucking, huh?”

Opening his bag, Alex grins at him. “And who’s fault is that, huh? Definitely not mine.”

His dom is pulling a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet. “I’ll happily take credit for it.” Wandering back, he drops onto the bed and holds out the bill towards Alex.

Rolling his eyes, Alex takes the money that he absolutely doesn’t need, but he dutifully stuffs into his bag and pulls out the bottle of pills and tosses them to his dom. It’s hard to do while lying down, but his ass is telling Alex not to move for a while.

“Thanks,” his dom mumbles, smiling at the bottle.

“My ass and mouth thank you too.”

That makes his dom laugh as Alex keeps rummaging through his bag, looking for his other present. Finally, he finds the rubber hockey puck that he’d gotten at the sporting association and pulls it out. “I got you something else.”

His dom frowns. “What?”

Grinning, Alex holds up the puck and tosses it to him.

His dom catches it and smiles down at him. “What’s this for?”

Alex shrugs. “I got it as a present and I’m not using it for anything. But you’d definitely use it, so it was a waste for me to keep it.”

His dom’s smile gets very soft and he stares at Alex for a long moment. Alex is about to get worried that maybe he’d overstepped his dom’s rules and this wasn’t appropriate, but his dom happily tosses the puck up in the air and catches it. “Thanks. It’ll definitely get used during our games. I don’t think we have any official pucks from the sporting association, so this one will get a place of honor in our puck bucket.”

Alex smiles, glad that his dom is happy with his gift. “You’re welcome. I hope the puck will give you lots of goals.”

His dom chuckles. “I hope so too. We’ll see.”

They chat for a while longer as they both relax. Once Alex’s ass will be able to handle the drive back to the palace and he’s confirmed for the millionth time that the cage is sitting right and is comfortable, his dom leans over him and smiles down at him.

“You’ll keep my present wrapped up for me, yeah?”

Alex grins up at him. The only way this could get better is if his dom would lean down and kiss him on the lips. But Alex will happily take the forehead kiss that he knows is coming. “I will, I promise.”

His dom’s eyes are shining and he kisses Alex’s forehead a few times, his lips warm through Alex’s mask. “Good,” he murmurs. “You’ll text me tomorrow morning to let me know how you’re feeling?”

“Of course,” Alex mumbles, a warm glow in his stomach at how much his dom cares about him. In a perfect world, his dom might one day care even more about him and Alex would allow himself to care even more about his dom too, but they don’t live in a perfect world and that can never happen.

“Good,” his dom says, giving him one more forehead kiss. Then he leans back and sits up. “Head into the bathroom and I’m gonna go.”

“Yes, sir.” Alex climbs off the bed and heads to the bathroom. When he’s in the doorway, he smiles at his dom one last time. “Have a good week.”

“You too. You’ll be my good boy, right?”

Alex grins. “Always, sir.” Then he closes the bathroom door and patiently waits. He doesn’t let himself dwell on the fact that his dom is leaving and Alex won’t see him for a whole week. That’ll make Alex too sad and he hates ending his wonderful Sundays on a sad note. Instead, he thinks about how he’ll talk to his dom tomorrow morning and every other day until next Sunday, when he’ll get to talk to his dom but also get forehead kisses, his dom’s cum, his dom’s hands, his dom’s paddle and all the other things Alex loves.

Once he hears the front door click shut, that’s Alex’s cue to peek cautiously out through the door. Seeing the room is empty, he opens the door wider and steps back into the bedroom area, reaching up and pulling off his mask.

The cool air feels great against his sweaty skin and he scrubs his hands through his hair as he groans and pulls the voice distortion clip out of the corner of his mouth. He wanders around the room for a while, loving how naughty it feels to be walking around completely naked, his cock locked in the cage and his ass sore and glowing red.

It makes Alex chuckle to himself. He’d love to spend the night here, sleeping in the same bed that his dom had spanked and fucked him in. But there’s always paparazzi parked along the road up to the palace and Alex has learned the hard way that letting them get pictures of Alex driving home early in the morning creates too many rumors.

Sleeping in the same bed that his dom had fucked him in is another one of those things that has to stay in Alex’s fantasies because reality will never cooperate with that dream. Sighing, he lets himself stare at the bed for another long moment, then it’s time to get dressed and drive back home.


	4. Chapter 4

As usual, Jeffrey’s a whirl of different emotions as he trudges down the cold street towards the nearest bus stop where the shuttle bus will pick him up to take him back to the palace.

He loved every second of their play session, but every session is making it harder to keep his true feelings hidden. He loves covering his sub’s face in kisses and he always has to stop himself when he gets the urge to kiss him on the lips. Kissing the fabric of the mask is a constant reminder that Jeffrey will never get to see or kiss his sub’s face and that’s...becoming more difficult to deal with as time goes by. It’s also a struggle not pulling his sub into his arms when they’re relaxing together and Jeffrey tries distracting himself by focusing on his sub’s ass or any other part of him that’s safe to touch.

The warm glow in his sub’s eyes and the immense trust he displays in Jeffrey makes it a thousand times harder to accept that this is all their relationship will ever be. For some reason, washing his sub and putting the cage back on him are the most difficult part of their time together. Every part of those acts is so intimate and there’s nothing overtly sexual about it, which always makes Jeffrey’s heart squeeze. He’d love to fuck his sub one more time while in the shower and hold him after to calm him down until he’s soft enough for Jeffrey to put the cleaned cage back on him. Unfortunately, the voice distortion clips would get destroyed by the water, so that’s not an option.

But all of these little heartaches are nothing compared to how his heart would shatter if he terminated their relationship, so Jeffrey wants to keep things as they are as long as possible. One of these days, his heart might decide it’s too difficult to continue, but until he gets to that point, he’ll continue quietly loving his sub in all the secret ways he can get away with.

* * *

His alarm pulls Alex out of sleep, which is normal for a Monday-After-Seeing-His-Dom. Unlike the other days of the week, he always sets his alarm to wake him half an hour before it’s time to start his day so he can enjoy the remaining afterglow and chat with his dom. It’s a part of their routine that Alex loves.

Alex usually stretches out their time together as long as he can and he’ll get himself ready for the day while talking to his dom. Their conversation only has to come to an end when his dom has to leave for work or Alex gets a buzz on his phone from his front door, meaning Gary has brought him breakfast.

Reaching over, he turns off the incessant beeping of the alarm and relaxes in his warm blankets, sighing happily. He’s naked and lying on his stomach, the heavy metal of the cage pressing into him as it once again cradles his cock, keeping it locked away from Alex’s hands until his dom releases it next Sunday.

Knowing he has a whole week to go before he gets to see his dom again always makes Mondays the hardest days to get through. His ass is still wonderfully sore and every time he shifts, the soft blankets rub over his sensitive skin and that hint of pain always brings on a flood of arousal that makes his cock thicken in its cage, which brings on even more discomfort. Not only does that discomfort get him more turned on, but his swelling cock rubs against the mattress through the small openings of the cage and that soft stimulation combined with the rigidness of the cage pushes his arousal even higher and he moans as his eyes drop closed.

It’s a wonderful cycle and Alex could lie here all day, getting constantly turned on by the soreness of his spanked ass and his restrained cock as he remembers the amazing things his dom had said to him and done to him. Making the whole thing even better is that his hole is still a little sore too and Alex still remembers how good it had felt as his dom had fucked him and filled him up with his cum. The only downside is that Alex already misses his dom and wishes the work week were ending, not starting. Getting out of bed will be impossible.

He wants to make sure his dom knows how miserable he is and what a hardship he’s facing. Grabbing his phone, he quickly texts his dom as he absentmindedly rubs his ass against the blankets and grinds the cage and his cock into the mattress below, soreness and arousal shivering through him.

_‘I’m sore, my cock is aching and I wanna stay in bed all day and touch my sore ass.’_

His dom replies within moments. The message starts with a string of laughing smiley faces. Then he tells Alex to get out of bed and look at his pink ass in the mirror.

Grinning, Alex throws the covers off himself and pads across the floor to his full-length mirror. Spinning around, he stares at his ass and smiles when he sees how pink it still is. There are even a few small bruises here and there.

“Oh, that’s nice,” he mumbles, very happy. Holding his phone with one hand, he gently rubs his other hand over his ass. Every touch is still intense and when he presses his fingers into his skin, there’s that small hint of pain that makes his cock ache again.

Moaning, he stares down at his stiff cock pressing against the steel cage and he’s so tempted to rub his fingers between the bars of the cage. Shaking a bit, he rubs his hand harder over his ass, wanting to touch his cock so badly and give himself just a bit of relief.

Just then, his phone rings in his hand and Alex nearly drops it from shock. When he sees it’s his dom calling, Alex’s earlier thoughts vanish as he rushes to grab his voice distortion clip and put it on. It’s a damn nuisance to always put it on before answering his dom’s call, but he doesn’t have a choice.

“Hi,” he breathes out, arousal still making him shake a bit.

“You’re turned on from touching your sore ass and your cock’s wanting to play, huh?” His dom’s voice is filled with heat but also fondness.

Alex grins. “Yeah, and I wanna stand in front of my mirror all day but I can’t.”

His dom makes a sympathetic noise. “You also wanna spend time in bed, touching your ass and stopping yourself whenever you start rubbing your cage against the mattress, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir. And it’s so damn sad that I can’t. My ass looks gorgeous.” Alex glances into the mirror again but doesn’t let himself touch his ass or he might drop the phone.

His dom lets out a shaky breath. “I know it does. If I were there, I’d give you another spanking. I’d just use my hands this time so I’d leave my handprints all over your ass. Your skin’s still so sensitive that you’d be crying before I reach three. You’d love it so much, wouldn’t you?”

Alex whimpers softly and clutches his phone harder.

“Then I’d fuck you and fill you up with my cum again but I wouldn’t clean you up. I’d put a plug into your ass and send you to work like that. Some of my cum might leak out of your ass during the day, but the rest would stay inside you all day. Fuck, that would be amazing. Your cock still hard and desperate in the cage and your spanked ass full of my cum. You’d spend all day sitting at your desk, your ass sore and plugged up and your cock locked up just for me and nobody around you would know.”

Alex moans and arousal rushes through him, making his cock squeeze against the metal bars. His hand twitches to touch himself, which he refuses to do because that’s his dom’s job.

But his dom’s off-hand comment about Alex sitting at a desk all day abruptly reminds him that his dom has no idea who he is. Not for the first time, Alex hates who he is and what he is because he wants his dom to know who he really is. He wants his dom to know everything about him and he wants to know everything about his dom. Most importantly, he wants to be with his dom more than once a week. He wants to kiss his dom on the lips, he wants to see his face without the mask blocking his view, he wants his dom holding him when they’re done a scene, he wants...a million other things.

But none of those things can ever happen and Alex needs to calm the hell down or he’s going to be late for breakfast and that will lead to Gary asking awkward questions.

Luckily, his dom is already steering him on the right path. “Okay, that’s enough teasing for this morning. You’re gonna put more moisturizer on your ass, then you’re gonna keep your hands off it until tonight. When you’re in bed, you’re gonna call me and I’ll tell you how I want you touching your ass.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex mumbles, a little bit of sadness still tugging at his heart.

“You’ll be my good boy all day, right?”

Having that easy order to follow makes Alex smile and his voice is a little cheerier when he replies. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” His dom’s tone is filled with fondness that makes Alex smile, despite still feeling a bit sad. “Now, go get the moisturizer.”

“Yes, sir.” Eager to obey his dom and leave his weird mood behind, Alex rushes to his bathroom to grab his moisturizer.

* * *

Taking deep breaths as he holds the mouthpiece of the phone away from his face, Jeffrey closes his eyes as he leans against his door and tries to calm down. He’s already dressed in his uniform so he can stay on the phone with his sub as long as possible. On Monday mornings, he usually skips eating breakfast so he can spend every last second talking to his sub before Jeffrey has to rush to the kitchen to get the Grand Duke his breakfast.

Talking to his sub on Monday mornings is both the worst thing and the best thing in the world. It’s wonderful because every part of him is still busy thinking about his sub, and not talking to him would leave Jeffrey distracted and upset.

But lately, Jeffrey’s discovering that he’s not just having problems with their limitations during scenes. Talking to his sub the Monday after a scene also isn’t enough. He wants to see his sub in person. He wants to put that moisturizer on his ass. He wants to tease his cock and lightly rub his ass and watch his face go slack with pleasure without a stupid mask getting in the way. He wants to see his sub waking up the morning after a scene, sleepy and happy. He wants to cover his sub’s face in kisses and spend hours making out with him, lightly rubbing his cock through the cage and feeling his sub gasp against his lips as his eyes shine with love for Jeffrey.

Sadly, it doesn’t matter what Jeffrey wants. It also doesn’t matter that talking on the phone isn’t enough. It has to be enough because they don’t have any other options. Telling his dom who he really is would put the monarchy’s reputation into jeopardy and that’s not a risk Jeffrey’s willing to take. Besides, his sub has never expressed any interest in revealing his own identity so even if Jeffrey were willing to tell his sub who he is, their relationship will never be what Jeffrey desperately wants it to be.

So while his sub’s rubbing moisturizer on his own ass, Jeffrey starts rambling about which televised hockey games he’ll watch this week. Anything to distract himself and calm down.

His sub always sounds a little sad on Mondays too, but Jeffrey knows it’s only because he’s still coming down from his high. It doesn’t mean his sub wants the same things Jeffrey does. Anyway, even if he does it’s irrelevant because their relationship can’t go any further than it’s currently at.

Jeffrey will either have to live with that or break things off and both of those options are awful.

* * *

Tuesday is a special day that Jeffrey’s been looking forward to for months. Once a year, the entire Royal Family gets together to do their official Royal Family portrait photoshoot. The butlers are responsible for making sure their assigned Royal Family member shows up properly dressed, but the rest of the work is done by the photographers, make-up artists, hair dresses and public relations coordinators who swarm all over the entire group.

Two lucky butlers are always assigned to be present during the photoshoot, just in case anybody needs anything fetched from elsewhere in the palace. Jeffrey adores any event where he gets to see many members of the Royal Family together, especially when they’re all dressed in their beautiful traditional uniforms and wearing their official crowns. The Annual Banquet is his favorite event, but being present for the portrait photoshoot is his second favorite. Because only two butlers are needed for the event—and in most cases, they don’t end up doing anything except standing there—butlers are assigned based on rotation to make sure everybody gets a fair turn.

This year, it’s Jeffrey’s third time being at the photoshoot and it’s a struggle to keep his facial expression blank as he enters the Grand Duke’s quarters, holding a basket of tools he’ll need to make sure the Grand Duke looks perfect for the photo.

He always takes the time to ensure his uniform is looking perfect, but he’d taken even more time than usual to make sure every inch of him is perfectly presented. It’s rare that he’s in the company of the Grand Empress and Empress, not to mention the rest of the Royal Family and while the Grand Duke wouldn’t notice or remark on a tiny smudge on Jeffrey’s gold buttons or a tiny frayed thread, the Grand Empress would definitely notice and she’d consider it disrespectful.

Jeffrey had spent ages checking over the Grand Duke’s official uniform last night but he goes over every inch of it again to make sure it’s perfect. All the traditional uniforms share the same white, silver and light blue color scheme that reflects the Hiverian flag, which in turn reflects the winter landscape that they live in.

“Is the uniform meeting your standards, Jeffrey?” the Grand Duke asks as he comes into his bedroom and takes off his bathrobe.

Jeffrey smiles. “Yes, sir.”

“Excellent, then Melinda won’t give me that evil glare of hers,” the old man mutters as he holds out his hands and Jeffrey hands him the pants to put over his undergarments.

Once the Grand Duke has put on his pants, shirt and the heavy jacket, it’s time for one of Jeffrey’s favorite parts: the silver fur-lined cape. The heavy cape is gorgeous and the fur gleams in the light as Jeffrey carefully ties the cape to the Grand Duke’s jacket, using the leather straps that are older than the Grand Duke himself. While parts of the traditional uniforms have to get replaced from time to time due to wear and tear, the staff members responsible for maintaining them try to keep them as authentic as possible.

Jeffrey takes his time tying on the cape, using a ruler to measure the size of the bows and making sure they’re the right size and hanging correctly. Pulling out his phone, he pulls up the photo of the Grand Duke’s uniform and zooms in on the bows in the photo and he keeps fussing with them until they match perfectly. Then he pulls out a comb and gently runs it along the fur trim so every strand is lying flat. It’s a lot of fuss, but being part of this makes Jeffrey feel so proud of himself and his role in the monarchy, not to mention being proud of being Hiverian. Plus, millions of Hiverian citizens will buy the official portrait—which are sold to raise funds for various charities—and the big monarchy fans will scrutinize every inch of the photo and they’ll notice if any tiny detail is wrong and Jeffrey will feel awful if it’s a mistake that he should have seen and fixed.

The Grand Duke stays perfectly still as Jeffrey checks everything, comparing every inch of the uniform to the photo on his phone.

When he’s satisfied, it’s time for his favorite part. “If you’re ready, I think it’s time for your crown, sir.”

“Whenever you’re ready, Jeffrey.”

As he reaches for the velvet box on the Grand Duke’s dresser, Jeffrey can’t quite stop his hands from shaking. Although he’s been doing this for years, the privilege of being allowed to partake in these moments still leaves him stunned every single time. Opening the box, he stares down at the shining silver crown which is thousands of years old and has been on the heads of countless other Grand Dukes in Hiveria’s long history. It’s hard to keep breathing and he has to clench his jaw as the emotions bring tears to his eyes. He carefully picks up the heavy crown with his gloved hands, always feeling amazed at being allowed to hold such a precious piece of history with his own hands. It never stops being overwhelming.

He remembers being a little boy and staring at the Royal Family portraits that his parents would buy every year and hang in their living room. The three of them would spend hours pouring over the photos, naming every single Royal and noting certain details on their uniforms or how the Royal individual’s physical appearance had changed from the previous years. In particular, Jeffrey would spend hours staring at the silver crowns covered in white diamond and blue apatite gemstones. The portraits had such an air of opulence and tradition around them and they’d been a big contributing factor to Jeffrey’s dreams of one day being allowed to work in the palace.

It’s always difficult to explain his love for the monarchy in words but there’s something about the entire institution that has always left him awed and emotional. The Royal Family represents Hiveria’s past, present and future. No matter what happens, the Royal Family has been a constant presence in this country and will continue being one hopefully for the rest of time. It doesn’t even matter to Jeffrey that Hiveria became a constitutional monarchy 300 years ago and the Royal Family no longer makes governing decisions over the country.

Once he’d finished high school at 16 and was old enough to finally apply for one of the junior butler positions at the palace, he couldn’t fill out the application fast enough. Coming to the palace for his interview with the Head of Household left him so overwhelmed that he’d fought through tears to answer Mrs. Gutierrez’s questions. He was sure he’d blown the whole thing, only to discover that his passion and devotion to the monarchy had come through as he was made a junior butler and finally got to work for the institution that he’d loved from afar for so many years. But becoming a junior butler was all he’d ever allowed himself to dream about because even that was overwhelming and he thought he was the luckiest person in the universe.

And now here he is: butler to the Grand Duke and he gets to touch the same crown he’d spent years admiring through a photo. How many people get to experience something like that?! The emotions of this special day always leave him shaky and on the verge of tears because it reminds him of his long devotion to the monarchy, how much he loves his job and how lucky he is.

Before he accidentally drops it, he carefully lifts the heavy crown onto the Grand Duke’s head, gently pulling it down until it’s sitting just right. “Is that comfortable, sir?” Jeffrey’s voice is shaking a bit and he can’t stop staring at the crown. The crown that he actually gets to touch! The rest of the world should be turning green with envy and if they’re not, they’re just dumb.

“Yes, it’s fine.” The Grand Duke sighs dramatically. “The darn thing never gets any lighter, unfortunately.”

Jeffrey’s still too overwhelmed to chuckle at the Grand Duke’s joke—a joke the old man makes every single time he has to wear his crown—and Jeffrey distracts himself by checking over every part of the Grand Duke’s uniform one more time.

When he’s finally satisfied, he steps back and smiles at the Grand Duke. It’s always so awe-inspiring to see the Grand Duke dressed in his traditional uniform and wearing his crown; just like in the photos Jeffrey still spends way too much time admiring. It’s so different from seeing him wearing his normal suit and tie for engagements. He can’t believe how lucky he is. “I think you’re ready, sir.”

The old man smiles, his eyes sparkling. “Good, thank you. I’ll walk very slowly, I promise.”

As they walk down to the Grand Hall, Jeffrey holds the back of the Grand Duke’s heavy cape as he walks behind him, careful not to disturb any of the fur but preventing it from dragging on the ground. While the palace corridors are cleaned daily, Jeffrey won’t leave anything to chance on such an important day.

When they reach the Grand Hall and join the buzz of activity, Jeffrey carefully lowers the cape and steps back against the wall with his hands clasped behind his back. It’s time for him to be a silent part of the scenery until he’s needed. Across the Hall, his colleague is already standing at attention, her facial expression just as impassive as Jeffrey’s as her eyes discreetly scan around to see if anybody signals for them.

The Grand Hall is already filled with members of the Royal Family. Everybody is dressed in their beautiful white, silver and light blue uniforms, the fur-trimmed capes draped over their backs and their silver crowns shining. Hair dressers and make-up artists are hurrying around, getting everybody ready.

It never gets old seeing the entire Royal Family in one place, especially seeing the Grand Empress and Empress. Everybody looks stunning and Jeffrey loves picking out the differences between people’s crowns and their uniforms, all based on their Royal titles and what position they hold in the Royal hierarchy. For security reasons, the Royal Family rarely wear their crowns and the priceless specimens usually remain under lock and key at the Royal museum in Neige so the public can view them. But for special occasions like this, security guards use armored vehicles to pick up and transport all the crowns up to the palace for the few hours that the Royal Family will wear them.

Jeffrey loves visiting the museum and seeing the crowns up close, but it always feels more special to see the Royal Family actually wearing them. Strangely, while Jeffrey is intensely aware of where Grand Empress Melinda and her wife, Empress Tanisha are in the room, he’s more fascinated by the people he sees often, who look so different when they’re wearing their traditional uniforms and crowns.

The Grand Duke is the most noticeable because Jeffrey sees him every single day, but Jeffrey also finds himself watching Prince Alexander. He’s used to seeing the Prince wearing a suit and tie while doing engagements or casual slacks and a buttoned up shirt when he’s playing cards with the Grand Duke on Saturday evenings. Seeing the Prince talking to his cousins or his great aunts while that cape is hanging from his shoulders and that gleaming silver crown sits on his head always leaves Jeffrey feeling a bit awed. Sometimes Jeffrey gets too accustomed to the routine of his daily life and he starts forgetting how important the Royal Family is to his country’s past, present and future and how amazing it is that Jeffrey gets to be in their presence and witness moments like this.

Then something small usually happens that shatters some of Jeffrey’s awe and reminds him that everybody in the room may have been born a Royal, but deep down, they’re all just human beings. Like when he’s watching the Grand Duke talking to one of his young grand nephews and pretending his crown weighs so much that it’s threatening to make him fall over, which makes the young Prince laugh. In the other corner of the room, Prince Alexander is excitedly showing one of his cousins that hockey stick key chain that he’d received during one of his engagements. He’s grinning ear to ear and the Duchess he’s showing it to also seems more impressed with the little engraved hockey stick trinket than the priceless crowns they’re wearing on their heads.

As Jeffrey thinks about it, he realizes the Prince probably likes his key chain more than his crown because the key chain has his name on it. Unlike the crown, that key chain will always belong to him. In just three short years, Prince Alexander will become Duke Alexander and he’ll wear one of the larger Duke and Duchess crowns. His current crown will stay in the museum until one of his young cousins turns fourteen and starts wearing it.

Jeffrey could happily stay here for eternity and stare at every member of the Royal Family as they mingle around the room and get the finishing touches applied to their hair and make-up before it’s finally time for the photo.

The photographer has everybody step up on the white marble staircase and as always, everybody lines up to form the Royal family tree, with the Grand Empress and Empress standing side by side at the very top and everybody else standing on their respective steps below them. Having everybody line up like this makes it really cool to compare the portraits from year to year and seeing how things change from as new children are born, people get married or individuals are promoted to new positions.

After his parents had passed away a few years ago, Jeffrey had put their entire portrait collection into a photo album and the Grand Duke gifts Jeffrey a copy every single year, making the album one of his more prized possessions. He loves looking through the pictures and seeing the changes year to year, especially now that he’s intimately involved in their lives.

The only downside to the arrangement of the photo is the obvious, empty step between Grand Duke Reginald and Prince Alexander, where the Prince’s parents had previously stood. Seeing that empty step always makes Jeffrey sad and he knows both the Grand Duke and the Prince have a hard time keeping that empty step between them. There’s also a void next to the Grand Duke where the Grand Duchess used to stand before she passed away forty years ago.

It must be difficult on the Prince to see that empty step and be reminded of the parents he’d barely known and will never get to know, never mind the grandmother who had died decades before his birth. But Jeffrey feels especially sad for the Grand Duke. The old man is always so cheerful and despite his age, he still carries out his duties without complaint and maintains close relationships with the people he cares about. Nobody would know by looking at him that the poor man had lost not only his wife but also his son and daughter in law. On most days, the Grand Duke prefers not to dwell on the past and Jeffrey can understand that. Having lost his own parents is a pain that will never fade away and spending too much time focusing on it just leaves him upset because there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Unfortunately, on days like this it becomes impossible for the Grand Duke and the Prince not to remember those they had lost and that always tempers some of Jeffrey’s excitement about the day. Empress Tanisha had suggested a few years ago that Prince Alexander could move up a step and remove the empty space, but Grand Empress Melinda had unsurprisingly refused. Once the Prince becomes a Duke, he’ll be able to step into that empty space and remove the gaping void. Until then, everybody has to put up with that empty step and the painful reminders it brings with it.

But Jeffrey quickly forgets about that empty step as he takes in the awe-inspiring scene of seeing everybody standing on the white marble staircase, their capes flowing around them and their silver crowns shining. It looks incredible and Jeffrey still can’t believe that he’s lucky enough to be allowed to witness this in person and not just in a photo on his parent’s wall.

His only regret is that he can’t tell his sub about any of this. He can tell his sub that he’s had an awesome day at work and something very special had happened, but he can’t properly explain how proud he is of witnessing moments like this and how connected it makes him feel to his country and heritage. The best part is that Jeffrey had helped the Grand Duke put on his uniform and crown, which is something very few people have the privilege of doing. He can’t explain any of that without giving his sub too many clues about what he does for a living. He’s always been careful never to mention the monarchy, even in passing. He’ll never be able to tell his sub what the monarchy means to him and how much he loves being allowed to serve the Royal Family on a daily basis. Once again, that’s a regret he’ll have to live with.

He’s hoping his sub will have something interesting to say that evening which will distract Jeffrey from accidentally bursting out with something that he shouldn’t say.

Thankfully, his sub did have an interesting day. Although he’s careful not to share too many details with Jeffrey, he happily tells him that he went to a family reunion and it gave him a chance to see many members of his family who he hasn’t seen in a while, including a favorite cousin of his.

Jeffrey smiles as he relaxes on his bed. “That’s wonderful! Do you guys get together often?”

“No, only a few times a year. Everybody’s really busy with their own schedules but we have specific days in the year when we get together for stuff.”

Thinking of his sub meeting up with his large extended family at some expensive restaurant downtown and enjoying catching up with everybody makes Jeffrey smile and nicely distracts him from the sadness of not being able to share his own special day with him.


	5. Chapter 5

Thursday is an awful day for Alex. It’s ironic because Wednesday had gone very well. He hadn’t had an afternoon engagement and he’d gone down to his workshop and finished his book ice carving. Once he’d finished hand carving his grandpa’s favorite book quote onto the open pages and added the final finishing touches, it ended up looking fantastic. He’d shown it to his grandpa who had loved it just as much as Alex did. The piece is as special to Alex as his hockey-themed sculpture had been because this one combined Alex’s skill with a quote that means a lot to his grandpa.

Alex had uploaded a picture of it to his account and his phone has been blowing up with people writing wonderful comments. Then he’d spent the rest of the evening practicing his speech for Thursday’s engagements and he’d gone to bed feeling happy and confident with himself.

But nothing goes the way he’d planned on Thursday. Things start out horribly at breakfast when he accidentally spills coffee on himself while under Gary’s watchful eye, which is embarrassing.

Then things get worse during his first engagement of the day when he forgets the opening line of the speech he’d memorized when he’s at an animal shelter and he has to spend time pulling his speech out of his pocket.

Memorizing his speeches isn’t hard and he hates how impersonal it is when he reads them off papers so he and Gary spend hours practicing his speeches. He doesn’t know what’s distracting him but forgetting the opening line leaves him rattled and everybody stares at him while he pulls out his speech and starts again.

Of course, TV cameras were rolling and the clip of him fumbling and uttering a long, drawn-out ‘uh’ while he’d tried to remember his line is a lot more interesting than the actual speech that a member of the Communications Department had spent ages carefully preparing. There’s no doubt the evening news will be full of his fumble, rather than his actual speech. His speech had been full of important things; thanking the people of the animal shelter for the work they do and reminding the public of the fundraising drive that the shelter is currently holding. None of that will be on the evening news because Alex fucked up and that’s incredibly annoying.

Then things get worse at his next engagement at a newly opened wing of a hospital. The little curtain he’s supposed to pull open to uncover the new plaque that has the Royal Family’s emblem, the date and the name of wing on it gets stuck as he’s pulling it. Of course, TV cameras are rolling again as he tries tugging on it in vain. Then the little chain comes off in his hands and he’s left standing there. He quickly recovers and manages to push the curtain open by hand and keeps a smile on his face as he shakes the hospital director’s hand and joins in with everybody’s clapping. But once again, the media will make sure they focus on his screw-up and not showcasing the work of the hospital and what this new wing will mean for the public. For the second time that day, Alex screwed up doing his job and that leaves him angry and frustrated with himself.

Gary takes it hard and blames himself for not having helped him rehearse the speech enough and not checking the stupid curtain beforehand, but Alex waves that aside. In Alex’s opinion, Gary had done everything he’s supposed to. It’s Alex who screwed up and he’s on the verge of tears by the time they get back to the palace.

He barely makes it through dinner and as soon as he’s alone in his bedroom, he pulls his collar out and buckles it on. Together with the heavy weight of the cage pulling on his cock and balls, it helps calm Alex down. He hasn’t disappointed his dom today, so he’s earned the right to keep wearing his cage and the collar...but he’s finding these thoughts aren’t as comforting as they usually are.

Pacing around his room, he keeps rubbing the leather collar around his neck, his jaw clenched as he struggles not to burst into frustrated tears. Deciding the collar and his cage aren’t enough, he pulls out his phone and texts his dom with shaking hands. Hopefully, hearing his dom’s voice will make him feel better.

‘ _Can you call me when you can please. I had a really bad day at work.’_

He hopes his dom isn’t working late. His dom always calms him down when he gets frustrated with himself and hopefully, today won’t be any different.

* * *

Stepping into his room after dinner, Jeffrey slowly pulls off his uniform, tired and annoyed. His day had gone very well, up until he and the Grand Duke had returned to the palace in the afternoon and heard about the horrible day that Prince Alexander had. The staff dining room had been full of hushed whispers about the two disastrous engagements as people debated who was to blame and how upset they were on the Prince’s behalf.

Jeffrey always tries to stay out of such situations. He knows the Prince hates not doing his job well and he must be embarrassed. Jeffrey’s also annoyed because most of the Prince’s problems could have been prevented by Gary working a little harder. Clearly, Gary hadn’t drilled the Prince’s speech thoroughly enough with him or told him to use memory cues. In Jeffrey’s mind, it’s not good enough to just go over a speech once or twice. It’s obvious to him when the Grand Duke isn’t comfortable with a speech and Jeffrey will push aside anything else he has planned so they can continue practicing until the Grand Duke can put on a flawless performance. In Jeffrey’s eyes, that’s the point of his job. Not just preparing the Grand Duke to meet the minimal standards.

As for that plaque curtain disaster, it’s atrocious that Gary hadn’t checked it beforehand and left Prince Alexander to face such humiliation. Jeffrey always checks these things personally, even if other people at the venue reassure him that it’s been checked. It’s not professional to say anything to Gary about it but Jeffrey’s never had anything like that happen under his watch and he can’t help but blame Gary for it. The Prince had been left humiliated and probably frustrated with himself.

Not to mention that the Prince’s hard work today will be completely overshadowed by his mistakes and all the work everybody had done for those two engagements will be for nothing. Jeffrey hopes the Engagements Coordinators will find a way to squish both locations into somebody’s engagement schedule soon so they can do things properly. There’s no way to re-do the wing opening, but they could do something for the wing’s first month of operation or something like that. Unfortunately, there’s nothing Jeffrey can do about Gary. If it were up to Jeffrey, he would give Gary an earful but Gary hadn’t actually broken any protocols so Mrs. Gutierrez probably won’t even speak to him.

But Jeffrey’s going to make damn sure that he never sets up the Grand Duke for potential failure like that. They only have an afternoon engagement tomorrow, but it’s at a military event and the Grand Duke has trouble memorizing the different military ranks and names so Jeffrey always drill him as thoroughly as he can. They’ve already practiced throughout the week but Jeffrey will bring his enormous binder full of flash cards, photos and memory cues to the Grand Duke’s quarters tomorrow after breakfast and they’ll continue drilling until it’s time to go to the engagement.

Jeffrey would have preferred to do some practicing tonight as well, but the Grand Duke had insisted his brain would turn to mush if he didn’t get some rest so Jeffrey will spend the evening watching hockey, talking to his sub and going through the binder one more time to see if he can add any other memory cues that the Grand Duke might find helpful.

After taking off his jacket and carefully hanging it up, he’s about to undo his bowtie when his personal phone chirps in his pocket. Knowing it’s his sub, Jeffrey grins as he pulls off his bowtie and takes out his phone while he’s working on the buttons of his vest. But as soon as he sees his sub’s message, his smile disappears and his heart sinks. Forgetting about the rest of his uniform, Jeffrey’s about to call his sub immediately—then he remembers the stupid voice distortion clip.

“Damn it,” he mumbles, lunging for it. Clipping it to the corner of his mouth as his heart pounds, he quickly calls his sub.

“Hey,” his sub mumbles, the sadness clear in his voice despite the distortion.

“Hi. I got your text.”

“Thanks for calling.” His sub sounds oddly formal, as if he thinks he has to be polite even when he’s upset.

Jeffrey sighs softly and drops on his bed, tossing his bowtie down next to him, his heart aching at the pain in his sub’s voice. “Don’t say it like that. I’m not doing you a favor. I love—”

Thankfully, he manages to catch the word ‘you’ before it can slip out. Hoping his sub didn’t notice his near slip, Jeffrey keeps talking. “You’re important to me and when you’re not feeling good, that matters to me.”

It matters a lot, but that’s a fact Jeffrey has to keep to himself.

His sub lets out a soft breath but doesn’t reply.

“Tell me what happened.”

“It was—I had a really bad day at work. I messed up two big…things. Important things.”

Jeffrey frowns. It seems Prince Alexander isn’t the only one who had things go wrong at work today. It’s strange how the universe does things like this sometimes. But as Jeffrey pictures his sub standing in some office and typing on a computer, he’s sure whatever happened wasn’t his sub’s fault. His sub is smart and very good at whatever job he does so it can’t be his sub’s fault. Jeffrey doesn’t know if any of that is actually true, but it’s what his heart believes. “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”

His sub sighs softly. “Yeah, it was. A lot of people worked really hard to set up both of the...big things and I messed everything up. I’m just so damn angry at myself.” He sounds close to tears.

Clutching his phone against his face, Jeffrey squeezes his eyes shut. He’s shaking a bit, everything in him screaming at him to find his sub and offer him physical comfort. He wants to pull his sub into his arms. He wants to cover his face in soft kisses and rub his back and hold him until he’s feeling better. In Jeffrey’s fantasies, there wouldn’t be a stupid mask in the way, but that’s something he can put up with.

“Do you wanna meet me at the hotel? It would take me—” He glances at his watch and makes a face. There’s a shuttle bus leaving in fifteen minutes and if Jeffrey runs once he’s outside, he could be at the hotel within an hour. “—at least an hour to get there but I’d go as fast as possible.”

* * *

Alex’s heart soars the moment his dom suggests meeting up with him and he’s already sliding off his bed to put his shoes on…when reality sets back in. If he meets up with his dom, it means wearing the mask. It means wearing the voice distortion clip. And his dom has always insisted that cuddling isn’t part of their relationship. Pushing him about it would make his dom uncomfortable and that might lead to things becoming awkward between them.

But even if Alex were fine without the cuddling, he doesn’t want to lie next to his dom on the hotel bed and stare at him wearing the mask while he’s wearing his own mask. Plus, talking about what’s upsetting him might result in Alex revealing information that he shouldn’t. Nothing about that situation would help make him feel better. In a perfect world, he could meet up with his dom without either of them wearing a mask and cuddle in bed together while Alex tells him everything that happened today. In a perfect world, he’d know his dom’s real name and his dom would know his real name.

But they don’t live in a perfect world and walking into a situation that would end up making him feel worse is the last thing Alex wants to do. “No, it’s okay.”

* * *

“No, it’s okay.” His sub sounds a little strange and Jeffrey slams the brakes on his thoughts. Maybe Jeffrey came on a little strong and his sub didn’t like that? This isn’t a BDSM situation and while they’re friends, maybe his sub wants Jeffrey to stick to their normal schedules, even when he’s upset?

“Okay. No—no problem.” Jeffrey’s mind is racing. “Do you wanna talk about what happened?”

But as soon as he suggests it, he’s kicking himself. Obviously, his sub can’t tell Jeffrey what happened. Not without giving away too many details about who he is. Jeffrey’s putting a huge amount of pressure on his sub right now and that’s the last thing he should be doing. As a dom and a friend. He gives his head a shake. “No, ignore that. I know you can’t tell me.”

Taking a deep breath, he mentally smacks himself. He needs to start doing a much better job of being his sub’s dom and friend and leave his stupid feelings aside. “What do you need from me? Do you wanna hear me ramble about things or do we wanna listen to music together? Or I could tease you and make you forget all about this horrible day because your cage will distract you.”

* * *

The longer the conversation is continuing, the more Alex is discovering that talking to his dom isn’t really helping. It used to be enough to listen to his dom’s voice as he rambled about hockey or teased him until his cock’s aching in his cage. But that’s just a distraction and Alex doesn’t want a distraction. There are a million words crowding inside him and he wants to share them with somebody who would understand.

He wants to talk about how frustrated he feels. He wants to explain that he feels horrible about it. He wants to hear about other people making similar mistakes and how they recovered. He wants to be reassured that this isn’t the end of the world. Obviously it’s not, but it sure feels that way now.

But his dom can’t offer any of those reassurances because his dom has no idea what happened today and never will. Alex realizes this is yet another unfortunate limitation to their relationship and it makes his heart ache. For the first time, Alex is having second thoughts about their relationship. Being with his dom is great...but is it worth having to maintain this constant distance between them?

Then he shoves those thoughts aside. He loves spending time with his dom and the experience is worth the little heartaches along the way. The conclusion he’s coming to is that his dom isn’t the best person for Alex to lean on when he’s having trouble with his professional life. But that’s okay. His dom also isn’t the person Alex shares his art with and while that still sucks, Alex is learning to deal with it. While he’d love to be able to lean on his dom in all situations, he has other options.

“I think I’d rather talk to my grandpa,” he mumbles.

Unlike his dom, his grandpa can easily relate to what he’s going through and Alex won’t have to omit any details or watch what he’s saying. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have that option with his dom.

His dom lets out a shaky breath. “Okay. Yeah. That’s a great idea.”

* * *

As soon as his sub mentions wanting to talk to a family member rather than Jeffrey, his heart sinks. He wants to be the one supporting his sub in all situations. Having other people to lean on is fine, but Jeffrey wants to be at the top of that list.

Unfortunately, that’s not an option. Even if his sub decides he wants to be completely honest about who he is, Jeffrey can’t return that favor. He can’t risk the monarchy’s reputation just because of his own feelings. That’s the burden he signed up for when he took this job and that’s a principle every single person working for the monarchy—Royal or not—lives by. For the first time in his life, Jeffrey finds himself regretting his job and briefly considering if it’s worth it...but then he puts a stop to all those thoughts. Even if he decided to throw everything away to be with his sub, there’s been no indication from his sub that he’d want to lose his anonymity too.

In any case, if this is something Jeffrey’s seriously considering, tonight is not the night to bring any of this up. Tonight he needs to stay focused on supporting his sub in whatever limited role he’s allowed to. “I think spending time with your grandpa would be great.”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Does he know what you do for a living?”

“Yeah. He does the same kind of job.”

Jeffrey forces a smile on his face so his tone will sound cheerier than he feels. On the inside, he’s seething with jealousy over his sub’s grandpa and his role in his sub’s life, but there’s no point in bringing that up tonight. It would just freak out his sub and he doesn’t need that on top of what else he’s gone through today. Jeffrey refuses to become another component of his sub’s bad day. “That’s great! So he’ll be able to relate and I hope he’ll be able to make you feel better.”

“I hope so too.”

Despite this being a better option for his sub, Jeffrey’s still desperate to play some type of role in making his sub feel better. “You can call me once you’re done talking to him. If you want. If you’re in the mood for a distraction, I’m happy to provide that.”

His sub chuckles softly. “I’d like that. I’m not in the mood for it now, but I’d like the distraction later.”

Jeffrey grins, his heart soaring. “I’ll distract you like you’ve never been distracted before, I promise.”

“I’d love that. When are you going to bed?” His sub already sounds better, which makes Jeffrey feel better too.

“Doesn’t matter. Call me whenever you get back from your grandpa’s.”

“Okay.”

* * *

As soon as he’s off the phone with his dom, Alex scrolls through his phone for his grandpa’s number. The situation still sucks and he still wishes his dom could fulfill all the roles he wants him to, but this is how things have to be. Telling his dom who he really is would destroy everything and it certainly wouldn’t make Alex feel better tonight.

Despite having dismissed the thought earlier, he’s still feeling a little conflicted about the entire situation. But regardless, he shouldn’t make any decisions when he’s upset. Tonight, he just wants to talk to his grandpa and get some much needed sympathy from somebody who understands exactly what he’s going through. Then he wants his dom to distract him until he falls asleep.

Pressing his grandpa’s contact button on his phone, Alex presses his lips together, hoping his grandpa will have time for him. If not, that will destroy Alex’s new plan but he’ll stay optimistic.

“Hello?”

“Hi, grandpa. It’s Alex.”

“You sound upset. What’s wrong?” The worried tone in his grandpa’s voice already makes Alex feel a little better.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Alex struggles to stay in control, his embarrassment still clenching in his gut. “Did you hear what I did today?”

“No. What happened? No, you know what? Come see me and we’ll talk about it.”

“I don’t want to disturb you.”

“Nonsense! I always have time for you, you know that. Come over immediately. I’ll have Jeffrey bring us hot chocolate and yummy treats.”

A genuine smile spreads over his face and Alex is already pushing himself up and stepping into his shoes and hurrying towards the door, eager to finally start feeling better.

* * *

Jeffrey’s staring at the hockey game on television without paying attention, still upset that he can’t support his sub the way he wants to. It makes his heart ache and Jeffrey hates everything about this situation, but changing the situation might destroy everything so that’s not an option either.

Lying here while waiting for his sub to get back home will keep him focused on his whirling thoughts, but Jeffrey doesn’t want to go to the gym or somewhere else and risk not being able to answer his phone the moment his sub calls.

Unfortunately, the option to stay in his room gets taken away from him when his work phone chirps. Checking it, Jeffrey sees that the Grand Duke has pressed the button requesting his immediate presence. Everything else gets pushed to the side and Jeffrey leaps up and quickly pulls on his uniform again. Stuffing his personal phone into his pocket, he desperately hopes his sub won’t call him until he’s back in his room. But not attending to the Grand Duke isn’t an option.

Rushing out of his room, he hurries up the narrow, winding staircase and exits through the staff door that’s disguised as a portrait in one of the hallways before making his way as quickly as decorum permits to the Grand Duke’s quarters.

When he arrives, he’s pleased to see that Prince Alexander is sitting on the Grand Duke’s couch with him. The Prince looks upset, but he’s smiling a bit and that’s wonderful after the disastrous day he’s had. Jeffrey’s so glad that the Prince had decided to seek out his grandfather for support.

It’s ironic that both his sub and Prince Alexander had bad days today and they’re both turning to their grandfathers for support but it’s wonderful that they both have that option. Seeing the special bond between Prince Alexander and the Grand Duke always makes Jeffrey feel a bit sad that his own family unit is made out of just him and relatives living on the other side of the world who he hasn’t been in touch with since he was very young. But he feels happy for both Prince Alexander and his sub.

The Grand Duke glances up as Jeffrey quietly closes the door behind him and bows his head at the Grand Duke and then Prince Alexander before standing at attention, his hands clasped behind his back.

The Grand Duke smiles as he rubs Prince Alexander’s back. “Ah, Jeffrey, there you are. Can you bring us some hot chocolate and cookies from the kitchen?”

Jeffrey nods and struggles to hide his smile at how wonderful that gesture is. “Certainly, sir.”

The Grand Duke continues. “And please check—”

“Cinnamon buns,” Prince Alexander adds in.

“I was getting to that,” the older man says, shaking his head at the Prince with a smile.

Jeffrey struggles not to burst out laughing. The Prince’s love of sticky, delicious cinnamon buns is something everybody is aware of. “Of course, sir. Would you like marshmallows or whipped cream for the hot chocolate?”

That makes Prince Alexander smile, which is great to see. “Both, please.”

“Of course.” Bowing his head again, Jeffrey spins on his heel and hurries to the door to raid the kitchen for anything that will help the Prince feel better. While the Grand Duke will do his best, Jeffrey will also do his best to make Prince Alexander feel better.

As with his sub, there’s only so much Jeffrey can do to help the Prince, but he’ll put a hundred percent effort into providing the limited support that’s appropriate to offer.

* * *

Being with his grandpa is exactly what Alex had needed. It’s wonderful that his grandpa understands exactly what Alex had gone through today and it’s so much better than telling his dom a vague version. Telling him he’d embarrassed himself at work isn’t conveying that Alex had humiliated himself on national television— _twice!_ –and destroyed weeks of work that other people had done.

His grandpa is wonderfully sympathetic, as is Jeffrey. Jeffrey brings them hot chocolate, cookies and Alex’s favorite cinnamon buns from the kitchen and Alex sits on the couch next to his grandpa, who tells him about the many times he’s also embarrassed himself and screwed up during engagements. The one that makes Alex laugh the hardest is when his grandpa tells him that twenty years ago during a visit to Esmon, he’d mispronounced the Esmonian Prime Minister’s name and ended up calling him something vulgar several times while dozens of people overheard and TV cameras had immortalized the moment until somebody finally corrected him.

Jeffrey is equally helpful and shares similar tales of humiliation that he’s heard from other staff members, but because Jeffrey is Jeffrey, he refuses to reveal the identity of the Royal Family member who had suffered through the event.

To make things even better, Jeffrey reminds him of the book sculpture carving that he’d finished yesterday and how beautiful he thinks it is. That makes Alex smile proudly and his smile grows even bigger when Jeffrey takes out his phone and reads out some of the lovely comments that people had written about his photo. The fact that Jeffrey finds it so quickly must mean he keeps tabs on Alex’s account and that makes him feel even better.

“You see, sir?” Jeffrey says to him, wiggling the phone at him, which is showing his sculpture post with thousands of comments. “Even if you had a bad day at work, you still created something amazing yesterday and you did something that most people can’t do.”

His grandpa nods. “Jeffrey’s right, Alex. You’re too hard on yourself and you focus too much on small mistakes. Look at the positives. You salvaged both engagements and finished them with a smile on your face and you created that beautiful sculpture with my favorite quote carved on it and thousands of people all over the world admired it and got to enjoy seeing it. I think in general, you’re still doing spectacularly well.”

Being reminded that the world really hadn’t come to an end and he isn’t really a failure at his job or life goes a long way to making him feel better. His Thursday is turning out to be less of a disaster than he’d thought it was, especially when he remembers that he’ll get to follow up his chat with his grandpa by talking to his dom.

Now that he’s feeling better, his misgivings about his relationship with his dom have also vanished. It’s fine if his dom can’t be the type of supportive presence in his life that his grandpa or even Jeffrey can be. That’s fine. Things are exactly how they need to be and Alex is fine with that.

* * *

As Jeffrey is serving the Prince and the Grand Duke pastries and topping up their hot chocolate, he’s constantly bracing himself for his phone to vibrate in his pocket. He desperately hopes his sub won’t contact him until he’s finished with his duties because his duties have to come first.

Luckily, his phone stays quiet until the Grand Duke dismisses Jeffrey. By the time he leaves, the Prince is back to smiling and appears to be feeling good, which is fantastic.

Jeffrey only hopes spending time with his own grandpa has done the same thing for his sub. But no matter what, Jeffrey’s hoping he’ll be able to make his sub feel better too in his limited role, just like he did with Prince Alexander.

When he’s back in his room and relaxing on his bed, he clips the voice distortion device onto his mouth in preparation and thinks up what he’ll say when his sub calls.


	6. Chapter 6

Smiling, Alex steps back into his bedroom, feeling soothed by the sugar, sympathy and commiserating that his grandpa and Jeffrey had provided.

Now it’s time to call his dom and lift his spirits even more. After quickly having a shower, doing his nightly cage cleaning routine and brushing his teeth, he’s ready to enjoy the rest of his evening. Taking off his clothes and putting on his collar, he gets ready. Grabbing his radio remote control, he prepares the classical Hiverian music that he knows his dom will want him to listen to when he’s calming down after his dom winds him up. When that’s done, he attaches the voice distortion clip to his lips, puts a bottle of lube on his bedside table—just in case—and makes himself comfortable on his bed, sprawling out. He has no idea what his dom will have him do to make him feel good, but not knowing is part of the appeal.

Grabbing his phone, he calls his dom as his heart races, eager to get a merciless teasing that’ll leave him aching in his cage and pushing the last negative thoughts out of his head.

“Hey,” his dom says, sounding excited. “How was time with your grandpa?”

Alex grins. “Great! He’s amazing. And I got treats too.”

“Oh? What kind of treats?”

“My favorite cinnamon buns. I’ve loved them since I was little.”

* * *

For a second, the lazy smile slides off Jeffrey’s face and he frowns. It’s really...odd how many things have lined up today.

What are the chances that both his sub and Prince Alexander had a bad time at work on the exact same day, then they both spent time with their grandpas and they both enjoyed cinnamon buns while they’re with their grandpas...?

For a second, panic wells up in his heart.

It can’t be. There’s no way...that can’t…

No, no, no. Stop with this rubbish. The idea that his sub is Prince Alexander is ridiculous. That’s not possible. There’s no universe where that’s possible because Jeffrey doesn’t want it to be possible. That can’t be possible.

That panic is still simmering in his heart, but he shoves it aside. All of these things are a coincidence. Most people have bad days at work, many people have grandfathers and many people like cinnamon buns. That’s all this is. It’s a coincidence. Because not having it be a coincidence would be...

No.

That can’t happen. His sub can’t possibly be Prince Alexander because that’s wrong and scary and horrible...and...

No.

Giving his head a firm shake, Jeffrey mentally smacks himself. He needs to make his sub feel better now. His sub, who Jeffrey’s in love with. His sub, who is definitely not Prince Alexander. Come on, Jeffrey! Get back on track!

“I’m glad your grandpa knows how to treat my good boy well.” He deliberately adds a teasing note into his voice.

His sub chuckles. “Yeah, he does. And you do too.”

Grinning, Jeffrey reaches down to lightly rub his hand over his cock through his sweatpants. “I’ll do my best, I promise.”

His sub moans softly.

“Did you get everything ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good boy. You’re naked on your bed, aren’t you?” Jeffrey murmurs.

“Yes, sir,” his sub breathes out.

“Are you wearing your collar?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jeffrey smiles and mild arousal stirs in his gut as he rubs his cock. “That’s my good boy. And is my present still wrapped up?”

His sub’s voice hitches. “Yes, sir.”

“Look at your gorgeous cage for me. Your cock’s locked up in that shining, metal cage and you look so beautiful, don’t you?”

There’s a breathy, happy laugh on the other end of the phone. Hearing that sound makes Jeffrey’s smile grow and his heart glow.

“I love how it looks, sir,” his sub whispers.

“I know you do. I do too.”

“It made me feel better today. I felt the cage holding my cock during the day and that felt so nice. Then I came home and put my collar on and that helped a bit too.”

“I’m glad it did. You’re my precious boy and you need to be reminded of that every second of the day.”

His sub’s breathing is speeding up, but he lets out another happy laugh. That means it’s time to make his sub completely forget about everything that happened today. “Get your hands lubed up.”

“Yes, sir.” There’s some shifting over the line. “I’m ready.”

“Rub your index fingers over your nipples. Nice and slow.”

His sub lets out a choked gasp and Jeffrey can picture his sub lying on his bed in some random apartment, his cock locked up in the metal cage and his head tilted back with his collar wrapped around his neck as he slowly rubs his fingers over his nipples while they slowly stiffen.

Swallowing the moan that tries to come out of his throat, Jeffrey closes his eyes and leans against his pillow as he keeps rubbing his stiffening cock. Without looking, he reaches into his bedside table drawer and pulls out a bottle of lube and covers his hand with it, in preparation for jerking off to his sub touching himself. “Tell me when your nipples are hard,” he whispers.

“Yes, sir.” His sub’s voice is shaking.

When Jeffrey’s cock is fully hard, he pulls his cock out of pants and leisurely rubs himself with his lubed hand. “I’m hard just thinking about you touching your pretty nipples.”

His sub moans. “I wish you were biting my nipples, sir.”

Jeffrey’s breath hitches and he squeezes his cock harder as arousal simmers through him. “Use your thumb and index fingers to pinch your nipples. Do the same rhythm I do before I put the clamps on you.”

Gasps are his only response, followed by a whine. “Oh, fuck...oh, that...they’re getting hard, sir.”

“Good,” Jeffrey breathes out, trembling from arousal as his cock aches. “Keep pinching them. Is your cock getting stiff in the cage?”

“Yes, sir. It’s—the cage is squeezing my cock.”

Jeffrey can’t help the moan that escapes as he works his cock faster, picturing his sub’s stiff cock pressing against the unforgiving metal of the cage.

His sub cries out softly. “I—I need—fuck—I wish you were here, sir,” he gasps out.

That...makes Jeffrey freeze for a moment, because he desperately wishes he were with his sub too. But going down that path will leave both of them sad and that’s not what Jeffrey wants. “Be my good boy and focus on your nipples. They’re getting sensitive now, huh?”

“Yes...”

“Good. Stop pinching them and rub your thumbs over them.”

His sub moans loudly. “Oh, fuck...”

“Good boy. That’s my good boy. Now pinch them hard and tug on them.”

“How—how hard can I tug, sir?”

“Do it just like I do.”

Jeffrey fists his cock and breathes in time with his sub, who’s breathing hard and whining softly. “Good boy. That’s my precious boy. Keep pinching and tugging. They’re nice and sore now, aren’t they?”

“Yes, sir,” his sub chokes out.

“I’m gonna put the nipple clamps on you on Sunday.”

“I—fuck...yes, yes, please...”

“You want your favorite clover clamps? Make your nipples burn and hurt so good?”

“Yes, sir.” His sub sounds close to tears.

His cock twitches at the thought of putting the shiny metal clover clamps on his sub’s pretty little nipples and Jeffrey squeezes his stiff cock. “Your nipples are gonna be so sore the next day. Every time your shirt rubs against them, you’ll remember how good it felt.”

His sub moans loudly.

“I’m gonna put the clamps on them and keep them on while I spank you. I’ll alternate fingering your slutty hole and spanking you. I’ll make your ass glow red and it’ll be as sore as your nipples. They’re gonna burn so bad and you’ll be so hard. Your cock’s gonna be aching for me to touch you, won’t it? But I won’t. Not until it’s time for you to come. I’ll keep fingering your slutty hole and spanking you hard until I’ve had enough.”

A loud whimper comes from his sub’s end of the phone.

“You’re gonna be begging me to fuck you and let you come. You’re gonna be desperate for your dom’s cock. I’m gonna fuck your sore ass hard and pull on the clamps at the same time. You’re gonna be crying cause you feel so good.”

His sub lets out a choked cry and Jeffrey grins, shaking from how badly he wants Sunday to come. “Your cage is really squeezing your cock now, huh?”

“Yes, sir. I wanna come so bad.”

“But you’re not gonna.” Jeffrey doesn’t turn it into a question.

“No, sir,” his sub chokes out. “I’m—no. It’s not—it’s not Sunday.”

Jeffrey grins. “That’s right. You’re my good boy and you only come when I give you permission. I know you’re desperate to touch your cock. It’s hard and aching, isn’t it? But you’re not gonna touch yourself, just your nipples. Are you still tugging on them?”

“Yes, sir. I’m twisting them too.”

Imagining how wrecked his sub looks as he lies on his bed, his cock throbbing in the cage as he twists and tugs on his sore nipples, a jolt of arousal rushes through Jeffrey and he strokes himself harder. “I’m thinking of how gorgeous you look right now. How good you’re being. I’m so damn hard.”

His sub cries out.

“You’re being such a good boy,” Jeffrey gasps out, working his cock hard. “I’m getting off just thinking about how good you’re being. Fuck, you make me so damn hard.”

There’s a choked cry from his sub.

“Tug on your nipples hard. Make them hurt.”

“Yes—yes, sir.” His sub’s voice is high-pitched and shaky.

Jeffrey’s getting close and he moans loudly. “Fuck, that feels good. You’re so desperate to touch yourself, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“My precious boy. My precious, beautiful boy. Your nipples are so sore now, aren’t they?”

A choked cry is his only response and that’s all Jeffrey needs. He comes all over himself, gasping his way through his orgasm as he covers his shirt in cum and works his cock hard.

His sub whines loudly. No doubt, he’d recognized the sounds and knows his dom just came.

Breathing hard, Jeffrey slumps against the pillow. “That felt so good. I came so hard, just from thinking about how gorgeous my beautiful boy looks. You did so good.”

His sub’s letting out choked little cries and Jeffrey slowly blinks his eyes open. “Okay, that’s enough for today. Stop touching your nipples.”

His sub sobs out a reply that Jeffrey can’t understand. Now that the euphoria is fading, Jeffrey is once again overcome with the desire to be with his sub. He wishes he were lying in bed with him with no stupid masks in the way. He wishes he could pull him into his arms and kiss him as he calms down. But he can’t do any of that and he needs to focus on calming his sub down.

“Turn on your music,” he whispers.

There’s a shifting sound and the faint sounds of the traditional Hiverian music that both he and his sub love drifts through the phone. Excellent.

“That’s good. Now close your eyes and just breathe. Nice, deep breaths. One after the other. Don’t talk, just listen to my voice and the music.”

His sub’s breathing is still choppy and there’s no doubt he’s still hard and incredibly turned on. Jeffrey knows his sub loves it, but it’s Jeffrey’s responsibility to calm him down and also do his best to end things on a good note. “That’s my good boy. Nice, calm breathing. You’re not gonna come cause you don’t have permission. You’re my good boy and you always do what I tell you so you’re gonna calm down.”

His sub’s breathing is starting to slow.

“You’re doing so good. I’m so proud of you. I don’t care what else happened today, but you did such a great job. You got so turned on and you wanted to touch yourself so badly, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” his sub mumbles.

“But you didn’t cause you’re my good boy. My precious, beautiful boy. I’m so proud of you. You did fantastic.”

“Thank you, sir.” There’s a happy tone in his sub’s voice, which makes Jeffrey smile.

“You did so well, I’m gonna make you feel so good on Sunday. You’re my amazing boy and I’ve never been this proud of anybody before.”

That last part is technically a lie, but Jeffrey wants to make his sub feel as good as he possibly can.

His sub lets out a happy sound, his breathing calm.

“My good boy. My gorgeous boy. You’re amazing. You had an awful day at work today and you could have unlocked your cage to get yourself off, but you didn’t. Nobody else has the self-discipline to keep my present wrapped up when you wanted to touch it so badly. But you did cause you’re my wonderful boy.”

Jeffrey keeps talking, listening to the small sounds his sub makes in response. Eventually, his sub’s breathing evens out completely as he falls asleep.

Smiling softly as his heart glows with joy at having made his sub feel good, Jeffrey keeps whispering quiet words for a while longer, just in case his sub isn’t fully sleeping yet. It’s not the same as holding his sub and whispering into his ear as he falls asleep in Jeffrey’s arms, but it’s as close as Jeffrey will ever get.

* * *

On Saturday, Alex eagerly calls his dom once he gets back from playing cards with his grandpa. He and his dom had already discussed what they’re planning to do tomorrow—his dom had pretty much laid out his plans on Alex’s bad day—but he’s even more excited than he usually is. Having his dom praise him for being so good during the week and not touching himself made him feel proud of himself and so much better about his other screw-ups.

“Hey,” his dom greets him, sounding equally excited. “Excited about tomorrow?”

Alex laughs. “Yeah. I keep rubbing my ass and thinking about how good it’s gonna feel tomorrow.”

His dom makes an appreciative sound. “I can’t wait to spank that ass hard and play with your hole.”

Shivering as his cock stiffens a bit, Alex moans. “Can you play with my hole after you fuck me too?”

His dom chuckles softly, sounding so fond of him. “You want me to play with my cum in your ass?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I suppose I can do that. That might be hot. Maybe.”

His dom’s voice has a teasing tone in it and it makes Alex smile. “Yeah, just maybe. I might like it. I’m not sure.”

His dom laughs. “You’re gonna be crying so hard by that point. You’re gonna be burning all over and so desperate to come. You’re gonna be shaking so bad. I’m gonna have to tie you up really well so you don’t fall off the bed.”

Drawing in a shaky breath, Alex closes his eyes and clutches his phone, a bright smile on his face. “I wouldn’t even care if I fell off the bed, as long as you keep fingering my ass and shoving your cum back into me.”

“Fuck. Have I mentioned you’re amazing?”

Laughing, Alex takes a deep breath, relishing his aching cock as it presses against his cage. “That makes two of us.”

His dom laughs too, sounding so happy.

* * *

Shaking with excitement, Jeffrey steps into the hotel room. As usual, there’s that small hint of tension in his gut until he’s confirmed that the room is empty and the light is shining beneath the closed bathroom door, which means his sub is waiting for him exactly where he’s supposed to be. Quickly pulling out his mask and the voice distortion clip, he puts them on. Then it’s time to get set up before he’ll finally see his sub for the first time all week.

As he pulls out the bed restraints from his bag, his eyes fall on his sub’s bag that he’d left on the floor, next to the bathroom door. Usually, the bag is closed up and tidy, but it seems his sub was in a hurry and he’d left his keys thrown on top of the closed bag.

Shaking out one of the bed straps, Jeffrey almost looks away from the bag and the keys...until his attention is caught by something familiar attached to the key bundle.

It’s a silver hockey stick charm.

Seeing it makes Jeffrey smile. It seems his sub is silently supporting Jeffrey’s love for hockey in his own special way. But there’s something oddly familiar about that charm. It takes him a second to remember that Prince Alexander had received a similar one during his engagement at the sports association. They must be a popular item.

But as Jeffrey prepares to dismiss the cute little charm and focus on the upcoming scene...something holds him back. His stomach is clenched and a shiver runs down his spine. He tries ignoring it and pretending he doesn’t know why he feels strange, but he can’t take his eyes off the keys lying on the bag.

He remembers his thoughts from a few days ago when there had been all those odd coincidences between his sub and Prince Alexander. His sub and the Prince had a bad day on the exact same day, they’d both sought comfort from their grandfathers and they’d both eaten cinnamon buns.

And now...Jeffrey’s staring at a key chain that has the exact same charm that the Prince had shown off to the Grand Duke and the Duchess.

That same panic creeps over him again and Jeffrey glances at the closed bathroom door. There’s no way His Royal Highness Prince Alexander Wallace is sitting on the other side of that bathroom, wearing a collar and cock cage and patiently waiting for Jeffrey to summon him so he can spank him and fuck him.

There’s no way.

There’s no universe where that would make sense. Once again, Jeffrey pushes these crazy thoughts out of his head and tries to step towards the bed to continue setting up. But his eyes keep drifting back to the key chain. He hates this silly panic because it’s based on nothing, but he can’t seem to calm down.

Well, there’s an easy to finally put these silly fears to rest. Prince Alexander’s hockey charm had his name engraved on it. If this one doesn’t have an engraving, then Jeffrey can put this stupid distraction behind him.

Stepping towards the bag, Jeffrey reaches for the keys...then he hesitates. What if his sub’s name is engraved on it? Jeffrey would be violating his sub’s privacy and breaking one of their most important rules. But is it wrong if his sub doesn’t know? Even if his sub is some rich celebrity or athlete, Jeffrey wouldn’t treat him any differently. He’s in love with who his sub is as a person, not whatever person he portrays to the public. Jeffrey could easily hide that he knows his sub’s real name.

Deep down, Jeffrey knows he’s making very thin excuses and what he’s about to do is unforgivable, but he’ll never be able to calm down if he keeps thinking that he’s only minutes away from opening the cock cage that he’d locked around His Royal Highness’ cock a week ago. Just the thought makes Jeffrey’s breath catch with horror.

So not checking the keys isn’t an option, even if it’s a horrible violation of his sub’s privacy. Glancing at the closed bathroom door again and feeling guilty as hell, Jeffrey lunges for the keys and picks them up.

With his hands shaking, he grabs the silver hockey stick charm as a voice screams ‘please no, please no, please no’ in his head. He turns it over...

...and his world stops.


	7. Chapter 7

Jeffrey’s frozen, completely numb as he stares down at the metal hockey stick charm hanging off the key bundle. The engraved words on it are clear as day and they’ve stopped Jeffrey’s heart.

_HRH Prince Alexander Wallace._

Horror floods through him and Jeffrey starts to shake as he clutches the keys and stares at the closed bathroom door.

His sub is Prince Alexander Wallace.

Prince Alexander, the Grand Duke’s grandson, a member of the Royal Family, is sitting on the other side of that bathroom door, anxiously waiting for Jeffrey to call him so Jeffrey can unlock his cock cage and make him suck Jeffrey’s cock before he ties him to the bed to fuck and spank him.

Panic clutches his heart and Jeffrey’s first instinct is to get out of there. He can’t be here. He shouldn’t be here. It’s not right. He needs to get away from here. Quickly.

Dropping the keys back on the Prince’s bag, Jeffrey stuffs the bed straps back into his bag and stumbles to the door, ripping it open and falling out into the hallway. Reaching up, he yanks off his mask and the voice distortion clip before hurrying towards the staff elevator and out of the hotel.

But as he’s rushing down the snow covered sidewalk, his heart racing and his thoughts going a million miles per hour, a thought stops him.

The Prince has no idea what just happened. Jeffrey might know who his sub is, but the Prince has no idea who his dom is. Jeffrey knows their relationship can’t possibly continue because it’s wrong and inappropriate...but the Prince has no idea.

The Prince is still sitting in the bathroom, waiting for Jeffrey to call him. He thinks his dom is some powerful, important person who’s on the same level as him. Jeffrey’s not any of those things, but that’s not the point. No matter what, Jeffrey still loves his sub—whether he loves the Prince is a question he can’t begin to answer—and making his sub wait in the bathroom for hours isn’t fair. He needs to end things properly without just disappearing. That’s too cruel and he couldn’t live with himself if he did that.

Fumbling to pull his phone out of his pocket with shaking hands, Jeffrey quickly texts his sub. Then he mentally corrects himself. He sends a quick text to _His Royal Highness_ _._ Oh, God.

‘ _I’m sorry for this but I don’t think we should keep seeing each other. Please don’t contact me again.’_

Before he can second guess his decision, he sends the text and puts the phone back into his pocket as he hurries towards the nearest bus stop, desperate to put more distance between himself and all the horrible things he’d done.

* * *

Alex’s excitement keeps him distracted for a while, especially once he hears his dom enter the hotel room. His dom is taking much longer than necessary to get things prepared, but he’s probably drawing things out on purpose.

Alex moans very quietly, his cock already stiff in its cage as he shifts around on the closed toilet seat, desperate for what’s about to happen. He’ll get his favorite nipple clamps plus a spanking today. It’s going to be amazing.

But as time goes by, Alex thinks that maybe his dom has an extra special surprise for him and that’s why he’s taking so long?

Then he hears the hotel room door click shut, which makes him frown. Maybe his dom had forgotten something in his car? Shrugging it off, Alex goes back to waiting, fantasizing about how good it’ll feel when his dom unlocks his cage and praises him for having been such a good boy all week. Even when those engagements had gone completely sideways, he hadn’t touched himself and his dom is proud of him for that. Alex is proud of himself too and he’s looking forward to getting plenty of rewards tonight.

But more time goes by and the hotel room door doesn’t open again.

Alex keeps waiting, but the minutes tick by and the whole thing is so different from how they usually do things. Neither of them have important business to do on Sunday nights, but Alex does have to return to the palace in time to look over engagement stuff for tomorrow morning. His dom has also mentioned that he needs Sunday night to get himself ready for the week ahead, so they can’t afford to waste too much time before their play session starts.

It’s been an unusually long time. Standing up, Alex heads to the door and presses his ear against it, trying to hear something from the other side.

But there’s nothing. Chewing on his lip, Alex decides if he should stay quiet and keep waiting or if he’s permitted to check on his dom’s progress. Maybe his dom isn’t wearing his watch and isn’t aware of how much time is going by? His dom is usually very good at managing his time during their sessions, so this is unusual. Alex hates the idea of having to cut their play time short because of poor planning on his dom’s part so he decides to risk annoying his dom a little. “Sir? I’m still being your good boy.”

He waits for his dom to say something in response...but there’s nothing.

His frown deepens and his stomach clenches with discomfort at how odd all of this is. Alex paces around the bathroom for a few more minutes, pondering what to do. Should he keep waiting? If so, how long? Besides, it’s so unusual for his dom not to respond to him and Alex had heard the hotel room open and close twice. All signs point to his dom not being in the hotel room any longer.

But...why did his dom leave? If he had something important to attend to—which has happened a few times—he’d tell Alex about it before leaving. His dom would never just leave without saying anything. His dom isn’t cruel like that. His dom respects him and his time.

The whole thing is very strange and makes Alex feel a little panicked. Deciding he has the right to poke his head out of the bathroom and figure out what’s going on if his dom refuses to communicate, he sticks his head out of the bathroom door.

The hotel room is deserted. That’s what Alex had been expecting, but the ‘why’ is still a mystery.

Hoping that maybe his dom had at least texted him, Alex goes to his bag and shoves aside his keys sitting on top of it to dig for his phone. He’s getting a little annoyed now. His dom’s time is valuable, but so is Alex’s. Does his dom think it’s funny to set up a play session and then leave, forcing Alex to waste time waiting in the bathroom for ages? That’s not like his dom and despite Alex trying to be annoyed, he doesn’t stay that way because he’s just confused. His dom has never done something like this before.

Finally finding his phone, he pulls it out and sees that he did get a message from his dom. Maybe this is part of a new game his dom is playing...? Maybe he’s going to start doing biweekly sessions instead of weekly so Alex gets more wound up before they play? But that doesn’t make sense. His dom is always so worried about Alex wearing the cage for long periods and his thorough weekly cleaning sessions are very important to his dom. He wouldn’t just randomly change his mind about something that he’d complained and fretted over for days when Alex had started wearing the cage.

Plus, canceling their meeting on the day of the session is unusually cruel. Especially because his dom hadn’t given Alex any sign that he wanted to delay it. At the latest, they’ve canceled sessions on Saturday evening when something important had come up for either of them. Of course, his dom may have had a family emergency that came up out of nowhere.

But it still doesn’t make any sense. If his dom had to leave suddenly, his dom would have said something. Alex wouldn’t have fussed. And if his dom had always wanted to cancel today’s session, he wouldn’t have forced Alex to drive all the way to the hotel, get ready and wait in the bathroom for ages. Maybe some doms would think that’s funny, but Alex knows his dom wouldn’t do something like that.

As his mind keeps whirling with possibilities—none of which make sense—Alex opens the text message from his dom...

...and his world stops.

* * *

Even once he’s back at the palace and sprawled out on his bed, Jeffrey’s still in shock. His stomach is twisting with discomfort at what he’s been doing over the last year. He can’t believe...how is it possible...

His sub is Prince Alexander.

Jeffrey’s been fucking and spanking a member of the Royal Family for a year. He’s forced His Royal Highness to wear a cock cage and he’d made the Prince call Jeffrey ‘sir’, as if Jeffrey was above him and had the right to demand that. Jeffrey’s put himself in charge of their sex lives and he’s been deciding when His Royal Highness is allowed to touch himself and when he should be sucking Jeffrey’s cock. Even worse, Jeffrey’s been deciding when to fuck the Prince and whenever he did, he’d covered His Royal Highness with his cum. It’s disgraceful. It’s so disrespectful that Jeffrey should be thrown in jail.

Jeffrey can’t stop shaking; appalled at his own behavior. What he’s been doing is worse than spitting in the Prince’s face and the monarchy’s face. The Royal Family represents tradition, history and Hiveria. They evoke a sense of awe and pride in everyone they meet. In Jeffrey’s opinion, anyone who isn’t overcome with awe and pride at being in the presence of the Royal Family is either an idiot or has no respect for their country or its history. The Royal Family will always be above everyone else; the embodiment of what makes Hiveria great. Jeffrey’s spent his entire life in awe of the Royal Family and he’s had the honor of spending the last ten years helping to preserve everything the monarchy stands for. In a perfect world, he’ll get to spend the rest of his life continuing to do that.

And now, he’s ruined all of that. He’s disrespected Prince Alexander and humiliated him for an entire year. Jeffrey’s behavior has been disgraceful. How can he ever move past that? Just today, he’d been minutes away from forcing His Royal Highness to kneel at Jeffrey’s feet and suck his cock. Then Jeffrey would have tied him to the bed, put nipple clamps on him and spanked him until the Prince cried. Then to make his behavior even more atrocious, Jeffrey would have fucked him and made the Prince beg for Jeffrey’s cum.

Jeffrey had no right to do any of that. It’s appalling. Somehow, he’d manipulated the Prince into allowing himself to be humiliated and treated like a cheap whore by someone who’s many rungs below him in society’s ladder. The whole thing makes Jeffrey want to throw up.

If either of them had to take on the role of serving the other during sex, it should have been Jeffrey. If their roles had been reversed, that would have been acceptable. That would have been the proper order of things. Yes, Jeffrey enjoys being a dom but he would have been flattered and proud if the Prince had chosen Jeffrey to serve him sexually. All of his dominant instincts would have vanished and he would have been on his knees in a heartbeat if the Prince had told him to suck his cock. Jeffrey’s always been willing to do anything to serve the Royal Family and that won’t ever change.

But unfortunately, their roles hadn’t been reversed. Jeffrey has desecrated a member of the Royal Family despite having made a solemn promise to himself to always respect and uphold the Royal Family’s reputation. He has no idea how he’ll ever forgive himself.

His only consolation is that he can claim ignorance. He had no idea who his sub was and once he’d discovered the horrible truth, he’d done the right thing and immediately put a stop to his outrageous behavior. Jeffrey has no right to be friends with His Royal Highness, never mind his dom and he’ll never have that right. That’s how things have always been and that’s how things should always stay.

* * *

Alex stays standing over his bag for ages, staring at his phone in shock.

‘ _I’m sorry for this but I don’t think we should keep seeing each other. Please don’t contact me again.’_

His first thought is that his dom is playing a prank on him, because this has to be a joke. It has to be. But...his dom has never played cruel games like this before. It doesn’t fit with the person Alex has come to know over the past year.

But if this isn’t a joke, that only leaves one possible conclusion and it’s devastating to think about. For some reason, his dom has broken up with him. Alex has done or said something that made his dom decide to end their relationship.

Frantically, he wracks his brain, trying to remember if he’d done something that might have displeased his dom. He’s kept his cage on and he hadn’t whined about wanting to see his dom more frequently, despite how badly he wants that to happen. He’s never complained about them having to wear the stupid masks or the voice distortion clips. He’s never asked his dom to have longer play sessions so they can spend more time together. He’s never expressed his desperate desire to kiss or cuddle with his dom.

And the thing is, even if Alex had expressed some of these desires, it’s not like his dom to just end things without speaking to him. They talk about everything, especially things related to their BDSM relationship. His dom has always insisted on Alex being honest with him and he’s told him over and over how they need to have good, open communication and not keep things bottled up inside. Yes, Alex hasn’t been obeying that order very well by keeping his irritation at some of his dom’s rules to himself, but there’s no way his dom knows that Alex is harboring those thoughts. There has to be another explanation, but Alex can’t think of anything that he’d done that might have upset his dom so much that he’d terminate their relationship through a damn text message.

Once he’s come to that conclusion, anger rushes through him. He hadn’t done anything wrong and his dom decided to break his own rules and just terminate their relationship without providing an explanation or discussing it with Alex. Not only that, but his dom had come to the hotel room and decided to leave without saying anything to him.

That’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. It’s rude and also cruel.

Clenching his jaw, Alex types back a reply, annoyance making his fingers shake.

‘ _I deserve an explanation.’_

* * *

Jeffrey’s so busy with his panicked thoughts that he doesn’t see the Prince’s text until an hour after the Prince had sent it. Seeing it makes Jeffrey’s heart ache because yes, the Prince does deserve an explanation. The only problem is that Jeffrey’s too ashamed of himself provide that explanation. Not only that, but it occurs to him that telling the Prince the truth would ruin what’s left of his life and that makes his panic come back full force as his hands tremble and his breathing picks up speed.

Jeffrey had somehow tricked the Prince into letting Jeffrey do horribly inappropriate things to him. It doesn’t matter that Jeffrey had no idea who the Prince was; that knowledge doesn’t make his actions any better. If he confesses, there’s no doubt he’d lose his job and any respect he’s earned with the Royal Family or the staff. He won’t survive losing his sub as well as his job because those two things are the most important parts of is life.

His thoughts are racing as he goes back and forth between wanting to do the right thing and come clean to the Prince...or wanting to salvage what’s left of his life.

Then he realizes that letting the Prince know that he’s been letting a lowly butler dominate him for a whole year would humiliate the Prince. That knowledge would only hurt him and Jeffrey doesn’t want that. Yes, breaking off contact with him without providing an explanation will also hurt him, but that’s the lesser of two evils.

At least, that’s what he tells himself before he gives in to his panic and quickly blocks the Prince’s number before shoving his phone under his pillow.

* * *

After pacing around the hotel room for fifteen minutes without getting a response from his dom, Alex’s anger is getting worse.

He’d trusted his dom! He’d followed all of his rules, he’d never complained and this is how his dom decides to end things?! Without an explanation? Shaking with anger, Alex types out another message.

‘ _You’re being incredibly unfair and cruel! You’re always telling me I have to be honest with you and then you break up with me without giving me any warning or even an explanation?!’_

But once again, his message is met with silence. It seems his dom cares so little for him that he can’t even be bothered to provide an explanation or acknowledge how cruel he’s being. That makes Alex’s stomach clench because it’s so out of character for the man he’d come to know over the past year.

He can’t even wrap his head around the idea that he’ll never hear from his dom again. He’ll never know what made his dom leave. Just a few hours ago, he’d been so excited for their weekly session. Just a few days ago, his dom had comforted him and teased him, making promises about what they’d do together today.

And now...he’s disappeared from Alex’s life.

* * *

Hours later, Alex has returned to the palace and he’s pacing around his room, still angry and staring at his phone. The more time passes without his dom replying, the angrier Alex gets.

He can’t believe his dom has thrown their entire relationship away without talking to him about it. If he found a sub he likes more than Alex or he’s decided the privacy requirements are too much, Alex expected that his dom would talk to him about it. Alex would have understood and they could have parted on good terms. But to be ruthlessly dumped liked this out of the blue...it hurts and that pain keeps him angry.

Before having a shower that night, Alex is standing in his bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. Specifically, he’s staring at the beautiful silver cage that’s still locked around his cock. Alex loves the cage and what it represents, but now that’s all changed. The cage is a reminder that his dom has thrown Alex away without any explanation. Today was supposed to be the one day a week where Alex can take off his cage and give his cock what it’s been craving all week. But instead, he’s alone and his cock is still locked up.

The more his anger grows, the more suspicious he gets of his dom’s motivations for their entire relationship. Did his dom choose to dump him today on purpose, knowing Alex would be filled with excitement over their upcoming scene? Did his dom break things off today because he thought it was funny to leave Alex in the cage? Did his dom find a new sub and did they plan this together? Are they laughing as they imagine Alex curled up on his bed, crying and missing his dom?

A small voice in his head reminds Alex that none of these things are in character for the man he’d come to know so well. But then again...dumping Alex out of the blue is also something he never thought his dom would do.

How well did he really know his dom? Alex had always believed that their relationship was genuine and except for keeping certain details anonymous, they were fully committed to their relationship. The thought that his dom had never taken their relationship as seriously as Alex makes his throat tighten and he has to fight back tears. That would be devastating if it were true.

But that’s the problem...Alex has no idea if it’s true or not. He’s letting his imagination run away with his anger and pain and it’s not serving any purpose except making him more upset. He has no idea why his dom broke things off with him and coming up with crazy explanations is pointless. If his dom decided he doesn’t want Alex in his life anymore, that’s fine. That’s his right. And it’s Alex’s right to move on and find himself a new dom who will appreciate Alex and treat him the way he deserves to be treated.

Clenching his jaw, he stares at his reflection in the mirror and forces the anguish off his face. His dom doesn’t deserve his anguish. His eyes catch on the silver cage again and he knows what the next step is. His dom doesn’t deserve Alex’s pain and he doesn’t deserve Alex’s continued obedience. His dom isn’t his dom any longer.

Spinning around, Alex marches into his bedroom and digs the spare cage key out of the bedside table drawer. The red key is hidden in the back of the drawer because Alex has never needed it before. But now that his dom has thrown his responsibilities away, Alex won’t give him the satisfaction of continuing to wear the cage.

With hands shaking, he opens the padlock and gently pulls off the cage and cock ring. It feels so strange to be the one doing this and it makes a lump grow in his throat but he draws in a shaky breath and keeps going. Once it’s done, he stuffs everything into the drawer and slams it shut.

Then he grabs a bottle of lube and lies down on his bed to get himself off. His dom doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore so Alex will now decide when he gets to touch himself and when he doesn’t. His dom has lost that right now that he’s decided he longer wants Alex.

Unfortunately, his cock isn’t as interested as Alex had hoped it would be. He’s tense and the combination of anger and heartache are making it hard to concentrate, but he massages his cock and rubs his thumb over the head, hoping to coax it into cooperation. It’s Sunday and that means it’s orgasm day and his dom no longer gets to be part of Alex’s orgasm days. That’s the choice his dom had made and Alex will now rub it in his face.

It takes him forever to get hard because he’s trying to avoid thinking about his dom and remembering the sound of his voice and the feel of his hands. It feels strange to be the one who’s touching his cock and it also makes him feel strangely guilty. But that’s ridiculous because his dom lost the right to dictate what Alex does with his cock.

Finally, Alex pulls up the fantasies he had used for years before meeting his dom. He closes his eyes and imagines faceless doms surrounding him and his hands become their hands as they pinch his nipples, work his cock and rub over his hole. They’re praising him for being a naughty boy—not a precious boy or good boy because those are things his dom called him—and they’re promising they’ll fuck him and spank him all night.

The fantasy doesn’t work as well as it used to because Alex keeps flashing back to remembering words his dom used to say and how his dom’s hands felt on him and that leaves his throat tight and tears trying to squeeze through his tightly shut eyes. Not to mention that the fantasy pales in comparison to the real thing. But he’s determined to finish this and not give his dom the satisfaction of depriving him of his Sunday orgasm.

When he finally does come, it feels bittersweet. As he lies there, panting and holding his softening cock, he smirks to himself, feeling like he’s won something.

But at the end of the day, he didn’t really win anything, did he? He’s lying alone in bed and his dom won’t text him a good night message and Alex won’t be able to call him tomorrow morning to whine about his sore, spanked ass and reminisce about how great their Sunday was.

And that’s when that pain from earlier comes rushing back and Alex finally stops fighting his tears as he rolls over and presses his tear streaked face into his pillow.

* * *

Focusing on the anger is a great distraction and allows Alex to uphold his responsibilities much better than if he allowed himself to wallow in heartache. He has engagements to do and nobody connected to those engagements has anything to do with his former relationship with his dom so Alex isn’t going to let them down.

He puts a smile on his face and tries to act as normally as possible when interacting with Gary or anybody else. There’s no way he’s going to give his dom the satisfaction of seeing him break down in the middle of a walkabout or sob into his breakfast with his butler standing nearby. Even though his dom has no idea who Alex is and thus, he’s not aware of how hard Alex is trying to pretend everything’s fine, it helps Alex feel better.

But once he’s alone in his room after work and dinner are done, his thoughts always circle back to his dom. He hadn’t received any reply from his dom and the more time passes, the angrier he gets. He was so sure that his dom would feel a bit of remorse for the way he’d ended things and send a little message to apologize and offer some type of explanation. Even saying that it’s a personal matter and he can’t discuss it with Alex would be fine. Alex would understand.

But there’s no message and that always brings the anger back. Watching TV or going to the gym are both good distractions, but knowing he’s throwing himself into those activities purely to avoid thinking about his dom leaves a bad taste in his mouth. He wants to get back to normal as quickly as possible, which means engaging in all the hobbies he has.

Scrolling through the website where he’d met his dom proves to be too much. Seeing people talking about exploring new kinks with their doms or boasting about how much their doms care for them makes Alex’s heart ache, so he decides to leave the website alone for now. Once the pain isn’t so raw, he’ll start looking for a new dom. This time, he’ll find the perfect dom who will be as committed to their relationship as Alex is.

The one activity that’s always made him feel good and is also productive is doing his ice carving. He hasn’t worked on a new piece in a while and people had been messaging him on his social media account to ask what he’s working on and when it’ll be ready. Deciding that would be a great way to distract himself from his anger and heartache, he heads down to his work shop.

When he’s standing in the little room, the familiar cold enveloping him and his tools neatly hanging on the wall, he feels better right away. This is a part of him that Alex had never shared with his dom and now he’s glad. Nothing in here will remind him of his dom. Scanning the shelves that are filled with his finished pieces makes him smile proudly and he gently brushes his fingers over the cool, transparent ice, remembering how hard he’d worked on each one…

...until he gets to the hockey skates sculpture and that’s when his smile disappears as his heart drops.

He was so proud of this carving. The hockey skates look very realistic and he loves all the details he’d included; the loose shoe laces, the fuzzy texture inside the tongue, the different textures on the outside of the boots. His grandpa and so many others had been proud of this one too.

But now, his pride is being replaced with that anger. He’d made this carving for his dom. Not directly because his dom never knew about it, but their relationship had inspired Alex to create it. He’d felt so connected to his dom while carving the skates, even if he never told his dom about it.

Now, the hockey skates are a taunting reminder that his dom never cared about him the way Alex thought he did and his dom had tossed him aside as if Alex is the little shards of ice he breaks off ice blocks and throws into a bin to melt. That anger burns in his stomach and Alex’s hands shake as he glares at the hockey skates. His dom lost the right to have a carving inspired by him taking up space on Alex’s shelf, just like he’d lost the right to decide when Alex wears his cock cage.

Reaching out, Alex grabs the hockey skates and shoves the sculpture to the floor. The skates shatter into pieces and shards fly every which way. Just like when he’d masturbated by himself, seeing the destroyed carving makes Alex smile with grim satisfaction. If his dom erased Alex from his life in the blink of an eye, Alex will do the same.

Some of the broken ice pieces are still large enough for Alex to recognize what it used to be, so he grabs a shovel and smashes every single large block until they’re just small shards of ice. Surprisingly, that act of rage fuels his anger rather than soothing it and he spins around, looking for more things to destroy. The beauty of being in his work shop is that he can destroy anything that’s made out of ice and not be hurting anybody else. Plus, he can easily get rid of the evidence. It’s brilliant.

Marching over to the ice making machine, he pulls on his heavy work gloves and hauls out a new block of ice and drops it on his carving table. Then he grabs his largest chisel, tossing it onto the table before putting on his safety glasses and rolling up his sleeves.

Pretending that the block represents his relationship with his dom makes that anger coil tight in his gut and he clenches his jaw as he picks up the chisel and stabs it into a random part of the ice block as hard as he can. Small bits of ice spray out and Alex smiles grimly as he yanks the chisel out and jabs it into another part of the block, creating another deep gouge that mars the perfectly smooth, transparent surface.

He keeps hacking away at the block and punches the chisel deeper and deeper into the block. Larger pieces break off and ice is flying around him. His feet crunch over the shards covering the floor and he’s starting to sweat as he continues smashing away at the block, breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces.

It feels so damn satisfying. His dom might have taken the first step to ruining their relationship, but now Alex is dealing it the final blow.

But then he starts to get tired. He normally works very methodically when he’s carving, and smashing the solid ice block into pieces is hard work. His arms start trembling and he’s gasping for breath but he keeps going until the block is just a large pile of broken, sharp edged ice pieces littering the table.

And as exhaustion overtakes him, it wipes out his anger too and he’s left realizing how ridiculous he’s acting. Dropping the chisel on the table, he stumbles to a nearby chair and collapses on it, hunching in on himself as he gasps for breath. Staring at the ruined ice block on the table and the broken pieces of the hockey skates sculpture covering the floor suddenly stops feeling like a victory.

His dom has no idea Alex did any of these things. All Alex did was ruin a sculpture he’d previously been proud of, as well as a brand new block of ice that could have been used to make something beautiful.

And that’s not the worst part. Staring at the broken ice shards of the hockey skates covering the floor makes Alex’s throat tighten and his heart ache. He remembers the fantasies he’d had where he’d imagine a perfect world where he could tell his dom who he really is and his dom would still love him and want to be with him. He’d finally be able to tell his dom about his ice carving and his dom would love the hockey skates sculpture as much as Alex did.

Does.

No matter how much Alex tries to convince himself that his anger has helped him get over his dom leaving him, it hasn’t. The ruined sculpture on the floor, the broken ice block on the table, not wearing his beloved cock cage—they’re all things that remind him of his dom throwing their relationship away in the blink of an eye.

He misses his dom so damn much and as he sits there, shaking and staring at the broken ice, his anger fades away and only leaves that crushing heartache behind.

The smashed pieces of the hockey skates sculpture perfectly represent Alex’s broken relationship with his dom and staring at the ruined remains of what used to be something wonderful leaves Alex fighting back tears.

* * *

Destroying the hockey skates ends up being a decision he severely regrets. No matter how much he tries to convince himself that he was standing up for himself and moving on...that’s not true.

With his anger having disappeared, the heartache becomes overwhelming. He’d lost so much in the blink of an eye and it leaves him reeling. The more time passes without his dom contacting him, the more it sinks in that Alex has lost an enormously important part of his life.

He misses his dom very much, but he also misses his friend. Being who he is, genuine friendships have always been hard to come by. He’d had some friends while in school but his insane schedule, the security protocols that are attached to him have made them drift apart over the years. In addition, many people are more interested in his title and how they can leverage a friendship with him into increasing their social standing or advancing in their careers faster. Alex is good at identifying those people from miles away, but it leaves him with few options. That’s why his friendship with his dom had been so important to him.

He’d never expected his relationship with his dom to include a friendship. Alex had assumed the anonymity they’d both insisted on would make that impossible. But to his delight, that anonymity had helped Alex find his first genuine friendship since he’d entered his twenties. His dom didn’t know about Alex’s public persona and the heavy weight that comes with his title so everything his dom had learned about Alex is part of who he is when his title and all aspects of royalty are stripped away. That had been wonderful. Alex hadn’t felt any pressure to live up to his public persona or represent the monarchy. He could just be himself. To make things even better, it had seemed that his dom also liked normal Alex. Their friendship had been the most genuine friendship Alex had ever experienced.

Unfortunately, Alex had gotten very accustomed to his friendship with his dom and losing that overnight has left a gaping hole in his heart. He constantly reaches for his phone during the day, wanting to text his dom a photo or make a silly observation about something. Then he always has to stop and sternly remind himself that his dom is no longer his dom and doesn’t want to be his friend either. Months ago, he’d signed up to receive notifications from a hockey website that sends him scores for games and other important news in the hockey world. He’d done it so he could stay up to date on what’s happening and participate in his dom’s love for hockey, but now every notification that comes in is another stab in his heart because his dom won’t be calling him to rant about silly trades or badly played games.

That’s always when Alex’s grief returns and he’s left battling to hold back his tears as his heart aches at the loss. He continues trying to maintain a brave face in public because his personal grief shouldn’t interfere with his Royal duties, but it’s difficult.

He’s very glad he has his grandpa and some other family members to rely on, but the whole situation reminds him of how few people he has in his life who are willing to support normal Alex, not just Prince Alexander. It’s times like these that he starts missing his parents too. Having his grandpa is fantastic, but not having his parents as an extra source of support has always left him feeling a little lonely. Then he’d met his dom and he hadn’t just found a fantastic dom who could give Alex everything he wants on a sexual level, but his dom had also been a wonderful friend who had filled the remaining holes in Alex’s life.

But now, those holes are gaping voids again. Remembering how amazing it had felt to have his dom in his life makes things even worse than before he’d met his dom because he now knows how wonderful it is to have such a friendship and relationship.

He’s drowning in grief and left scrambling to figure out how to make himself feel better. One of his followers on his account is a young boy who had been begging Alex for months to make a sculpture of his favorite cartoon character and Alex eagerly throws himself into the project. He doesn’t just make that character but he creates the entire cast of the show. He also spends much more time than necessary preparing for engagements. While Gary and the Engagement Coordinators do a fantastic job preparing information for him, Alex spends his evenings when he’s not in the workshop or with his grandpa by doing extra research on the places he’ll visit and the people he’ll meet. It’s not necessary, but it nicely fills those empty hours which had been previously filled with hours of conversation with his dom.

It’s not enough to soothe his broken heart, but it leads to less time crying and missing his dom. Inevitably, something will happen or Alex will think of something that will remind him of his dom and he’ll go from being nicely distracted to being on the verge of tears in seconds, but he forces himself to keep going.

Whether he likes it or not, every day that passes without a message from his dom makes it clear that he hasn’t changed his mind and probably won’t. It hurts like hell, but Alex needs to get accustomed to living his life without his dom and best friend.


	8. Chapter 8

To Alex’s annoyance, he finds himself having trouble sleeping. At first, he thinks it’s purely due to his heartache and that might be part of it, but when he realizes he can’t sleep comfortably in any position except his back, he finally realizes what the problem is.

He really misses wearing his cock cage. To outsiders, it would probably be strange that Alex is missing the restrictive, heavy cage but it makes sense. Alex had never worn the cage because of his dom. Yes, his dom had come around to the idea and had eagerly accepted the control that Alex had handed him. But Alex had mostly worn the cage for himself. He loved how naughty it felt to wear the cage in public and how submissive it made him feel whenever he realized he couldn’t touch his cock or get himself off unless the cage was removed. Having his dom be in charge of deciding when the cage is removed and for how long was another enjoyable aspect of the experience, but that’s not what Alex misses the most.

As he’s lying in bed wide awake, staring up at the ceiling and idly rubbing his soft cock through his pajamas, he can’t stop thinking about his cage and putting it back on. A part of him thinks that would be pathetic, but no, that’s not true. Alex wouldn’t be wearing it because he misses his dom. He’d be wearing it because it makes him feel good and his dom doesn’t need to be part of it. Why should Alex deprive himself of something that gives him joy, just because his dom no longer wants to be part of it? Alex doesn’t need a dom to be in charge of the cage. That would be wonderful and Alex hopes he’ll get to experience that again one day, but wearing the cage can be something he does just for himself.

With his mind made up, he throws the covers off himself and rummages around in his bedside table until he’s pulled out the metal cage and cock ring. The family, heavy weight of the metal makes him smile and excitement flutters in his stomach.

Pulling off his pajama pants, he tosses them on the bed and hurries into the bathroom to scrub the chastity device clean. Unfortunately, as he’s washing the smooth metal pieces, arousal simmers through him and his cock stiffens, which feels great but is counter productive to putting the cage on.

The process also reminds him that his dom would normally be doing this and Alex won’t get to lie on the bathroom floor while his dom gently puts the cage on him and praises him for being a good boy.

That makes the eager smile slide off his face and his heart drops as he squeezes his eyes shut against the pain. He remembers how happy and submissive it made him feel whenever he was lying on the floor, his dom smiling down at him from between his legs; his eyes shining with the same joy that Alex had felt. Despite the mask on his dom’s face, Alex could sense how much his dom loved putting the cage on him. Putting himself into such a submissive position and allowing his dom to put the cage on him had always felt so damn good, but now Alex won’t ever get to experience that again.

The crushing sadness that seeps through him makes his arousal fade and Alex considers not putting the cage back on. But he really wants to. Wearing it will be both a horrible reminder of what he’s lost but it’ll also be a comfort; a reminder that he hasn’t lost everything.

Blinking back tears, he takes a deep breath and carefully dries the cage components before grabbing the lube. He purposefully stays standing as he lubes up his cock, balls and the separate cage parts. It’s hard to keep hold of the slippery metal and it forces him to concentrate, which is good.

And once he’s clicked the small padlock shut and takes his hands off his cock, that familiar weight is pulling on his cock and balls again and Alex is flooded with conflicting emotions. Just as he’d thought, it’s a comfort but it also makes a lump grow in his throat when he remembers the countless times his dom touched the cage and teased him about it.

Clenching his jaw, he struggles to keep his tears back as he washes his hands and wanders back to bed, that heavy weight back between his legs. Pulling his pajama pants back on, he lies down and rolls onto his front, enjoying how familiar it feels to have the cage digging into him as it gently cradles his cock.

But as he presses his face into the pillow, Alex can’t get rid of the ache in his heart as he keeps remembering that his dom no longer cares whether Alex wears the cage or not.

* * *

No matter how hard he tries, Alex can’t seem to move forward.

The sadness continues being a jagged shard of ice that’s digging into his heart and refuses to melt. Wearing the cage does provide comfort, but not nearly enough. It feels as if the cage and Alex have both been dumped by their dom and they’re both seeking comfort from each other. It sounds stupid, but that’s the best way Alex can explain the strange mix of comfort and pain he gets from wearing it.

It might be better for him to remove the cage or get himself a different one, but he can’t. Whenever he thinks about it, he’s left fighting back tears and a bit of panic. Slowly, it becomes clear to him that he’s clinging to the cage not just out of comfort but because he can’t let go of his dom.

This becomes even more clear when he can’t force himself to cancel the hockey notifications that keep appearing on his phone. Whenever he tries going to the website to stop the messages, he turns into a shaking, crying mess and his heart feels like it’s going to explode, so he pulls back.

It seems he’s gone as far as he possibly can with moving on and now he’s stuck.

* * *

Jeffrey’s shock and disgust at his own behavior only lasts for a few days. Ironically, it’s Prince Alexander himself who helps get Jeffrey’s thoughts back into order.

It occurs to him that he’s being unfair to the Prince with his assessment of the situation. Jeffrey’s behavior is unforgivable and his only saving grace is that he’d ended things as soon as he’d realized who his sub is. But he’d been very judgmental regarding the Prince’s role in this situation. Yes, their relationship had been inappropriate but only because of who Jeffrey is. While it’s still mind boggling to think that a member of the Royal Family enjoys being submissive in the bedroom—especially without knowing exactly who they’re submitting to—there’s nothing wrong with it. Jeffrey hadn’t forced the Prince to wear a cock cage or abide by Jeffrey’s decisions regarding their sex lives. His Royal Highness isn’t some naive person who Jeffrey manipulated into being submissive. Prince Alexander’s love for getting spanked isn’t a result of manipulation or force. Jeffrey had met the Prince through an anonymous BDSM website and it had been clear from the start that although the Prince hadn’t ever had a physical BDSM relationship with anybody before, he’d clearly identified that he loved being submissive, enjoyed impact play and cum play and a host of other things. His Royal Highness had never been anything but an enthusiastic participating in their play, so Jeffrey’s initial gut reaction that the Prince hadn’t known what he was doing and had naively wandered into the situation is very disrespectful to him.

So the fact that the Prince enjoys certain things in the bedroom isn’t the issue. The issue is that Jeffrey had no right to ever be his dom and he never will. To make matters worse, even if the Prince had enjoyed doing those activities, Jeffrey still thinks it wasn’t appropriate to be the one doing them with the Prince. His Royal Highness should be with a dom who’s his equal in society. That would be alright. Whenever Jeffrey gets upset with himself again for having accidentally overstepped his boundaries in such an atrocious fashion, he consoles himself that he’d done the right thing and broken things off as soon as he’d found out what he’d been doing.

But while he’s moving past his shock regarding the whole situation, the vacated space is quickly taken up by heartache.

Jeffrey really misses his sub. He misses their play sessions and he misses teasing his sub over the phone. But he also misses their friendship. He misses chatting on the phone about all kinds of topics and getting pictures and texts from his sub during the day.

Unfortunately, his heartache has to compete with the growing confusion that Jeffrey’s dealing with because whenever he thinks about missing his sub...because that’s always immediately followed by a reminder that his sub is His Royal Highness Prince Alexander Wallace. The person he’s missing talking to, laughing with and having sex with is Prince Alexander Wallace. Jeffrey can’t quite put the two ideas together. They belong together because his sub is definitely the Prince, but he can’t combine the two images in his head.

Strangely enough, he has an epiphany about the situation as he’s lying in bed with important engagement notes for tomorrow on his lap but his eyes are glued to the new Royal Family portrait that the Grand Duke had given him a few days ago, which had replaced last year’s photo in the old wooden frame while the old version had gone into the photo album.

Prince Alexander is wearing his silver crown with that gorgeous long cape draped over his shoulders. He’s smiling pleasantly for the photographer and his blond hair glints beneath the shining crown. Every part of him is perfect...

...and nobody in that room had any idea that he’d been wearing a chastity device underneath his uniform. On the outside, he’d been literally draped in tradition and luxury, while he’d hidden a naughty secret beneath it. It’s a secret that only the Prince and Jeffrey know and the Prince has always worked hard to keep it that way.

And the reason why is what brings Jeffrey to his epiphany. He’s always known that the Royal Family present one image to the public and another when they’re at home and surrounded by their family or the staff they trust. Prince Alexander is no different. While in public—or posing for a portrait that will be seen and purchased by thousands of people—he’s presenting the image that’s his duty to portray. On the outside, he’s His Royal Highness Prince Alexander Wallace. But the cock cage that’s hidden beneath his clothes—that doesn’t belong to Prince Alexander. That belongs to Alex. Just normal Alex. The person the Prince is when his title and Royal duties are pushed to the side.

Jeffrey realizes he’s never been in a relationship with Prince Alexander. He’s been in a relationship with Alex.

Alex is the person who has a close bond with his grandfather and plays cards with him every Saturday. Alex loves cinnamon buns and classical Hiverian music. Alex doesn’t like hockey but purposefully kept a hockey puck that he was given as a present just so he could give it to his dom—his friend—because he knows his friend likes hockey. Alex is sweet and kind and also mischievous. He loves wearing a cock cage and getting spanked during sex. He likes rubbing his sore ass and staring at it in the mirror the next morning to see how pink it still is. Alex is the person Jeffrey has spent hours chatting on the phone with. That’s the person Jeffrey’s in love with. That’s not Prince Alexander, that’s Alex.

The epiphany helps calm him down. He hadn’t disrespected the monarchy by his relationship with Alex. Jeffrey hadn’t acted inappropriately towards a member of the Royal Family, because he’d been in a relationship with Alex, not Prince Alexander.

Unfortunately, that epiphany quickly leads to crushing heartache because Jeffrey realizes how horrible he’s been towards Alex. His panic was understandable and it’s taken him over a week to work through his tangled thoughts, but it doesn’t change what he’d done. He’d abandoned his sub and his friend without providing a proper explanation.

At first, Jeffrey thinks that Alex must be fine. He tries convincing himself that Alex must have many friends and he’ll have no problem finding a new dom. He decides to test his theory by watching some video clips of the Prince’s recent engagements.

But that decision quickly backfires and makes his guilt grow. In every single video clip, the Prince’s smile seems a bit strained and doesn’t meet his eyes. He doesn’t have the same spring in his step when he’s doing the walkabouts and his handshakes lack his usual enthusiasm. Every word he says is perfect, but it’s missing a bit of that warmth which Jeffrey is used to hearing from him.

To make matters worse, Jeffrey can tell that Alex stopped wearing his cock cage for a few days, but now he’s back to wearing it. The cage had been Alex’s idea in the first place, so he might just be wearing it because he missed how it feels...but together with his sad eyes, it seems that might not be the only reason. Reaching up, Jeffrey grabs the chain that holds the red painted key around his neck and he stares down at it. Like Alex, he can’t bear the thought of taking it off and never putting it back on again. But he also can’t keep wearing the key for eternity because his heart aches every time he looks at it.

Jeffrey has no idea what to do. Now that he’s thinking clearly, he decides he’d be fine continuing to have a relationship with Alex. Being a human being means Alex has the right to have friends and a dom, and those people don’t have to be at a certain societal level to earn those places.

But...that’s just Jeffrey’s opinion. He has no idea what Alex’s opinion would be. The Prince had probably assumed Jeffrey is some rich and important person and that’s why he’s continued their relationship for a whole year. That’s probably why Alex is missing him. If Alex knew who Jeffrey was, there’s a chance he’d be upset and wouldn’t want to continue seeing him. There’s the possibility that Alex would see past Jeffrey’s standing in society and treat him as normal Jeffrey, but if he doesn’t then Jeffrey would be left more heartbroken than he already is. It’s a huge risk to take...but not doing anything and keeping Alex in the dark also isn’t an option.

The situation is horrible. Right now, Jeffrey’s hurting but Alex is in horrible pain because he doesn’t know why Jeffrey broke up with him. But if Jeffrey contacts him and comes clean about everything, there’s a chance Alex would be upset and then Jeffrey would be the one who would be in horrible pain.

On one hand, Jeffrey’s love for Alex wants to take away his pain...but he’s terrified of how much it would hurt to be honest with him. Would Alex insist on Jeffrey being fired? If Jeffrey were allowed to keep his job, could he deal with the Prince treating him with disdain for the rest of their lives?

A part of Jeffrey’s pretty sure that Alex wouldn’t respond like that, but Jeffrey’s already lost the man he loves and he can’t bear the thought of that heartbreak expanding. Taking the risk of losing the job he loves and thus, losing everything that’s important to him is too scary and every single time he reaches for his phone to unblock Alex’s number and call him, his courage deserts him.

* * *

It’s Saturday. Fortunately, Alex only had a morning engagement today, which means he had to spend less time keeping a fake smile pasted on his face and pretending to be enthusiastic about the people he’d met today. Unfortunately, that means he’s spent almost the entire day in bed, nursing his broken heart. He’s lost any momentum he’d built up and he hasn’t gone down to his workshop in days and has been avoiding his grandpa too. Gary had noticed that he’s upset, but there’s no way Alex can talk to him about any of this and he’s politely brushed aside his concerns.

He’s been lying in bed for hours, one hand gently rubbing the metal bars of his cage as he listens to the traditional Hiverian music that he and his dom both love so much. It’s completely counterproductive but Alex can’t pull himself out of his heartache.

He’s also started wearing his collar whenever he’s safely hidden in his room, which is another step in the wrong direction but it makes him feel better. Wearing these constant reminders of his dom is both comforting but also heart breaking. He should buy himself a new cage and new collar but the thought of not wearing these items that his dom had spent so many hours touching makes his grief stronger. He can’t move forward but he can’t have his dom back either, so he’s stuck.

Rubbing the warm metal bars with one hand and the soft leather around his neck with his other hand, Alex draws in a shaky breath and clenches his jaw as his tears slide down his cheeks again.

He misses his dom and his friend so much. In just a few hours, another week will have passed since he’d last heard his dom’s voice. Yes, it wasn’t his real voice, but still. Alex always has to stop himself from scrolling through his text messages, reading through their old conversations. He’d love doing it, but that means starting with that horrible message where his dom told him it’s over and not to contact him again.

Alex could delete that message, but he’s too scared to open the whole text thread. If his finger slips, he could accidentally delete the entire thread and then he’ll have lost those last reminders of his dom. He doesn’t have any pictures of his dom and his dom has never given him any gifts, so those text messages are all he has and he’s clinging to them just like he’s clinging to the cage.

At least he’s finally canceled the hockey news notifications. It should feel like a victory, but Alex’s hand had been forced so it doesn’t count. He would get notifications while in the car going to an engagement and that always led to distraction and pain, which isn’t professional. Unfortunately, wearing the cage when he’s in public, keeping his dom’s text messages saved and wearing his collar when he’s at home aren’t things that will impact his job performance, so he allows himself to cling to those things.

One day, he’ll have to delete the messages and get himself a new cage and a new collar. But he can’t even think about any of that right now. Doing any of those things would be as painful as trying to get a new dom. Grieving is a waste of time, but Alex can’t seem to make the process move faster.

On the other hand, lying in bed and being sad is making his pain worse, so that’s stupid. He has no desire to go down to his workshop, but spending the entire weekend in bed won’t make him feel better. If anything, it’ll make him feel worse because his weekends used to be such a source of joy.

While there are certain things he can’t seem to get started with, he can force himself to get out of bed and spend time with people who love him and will distract him for his pain. The person at the top of that list has always been his grandpa and since it’s Saturday, this is a perfect opportunity. He’s avoided their weekly card games since his dom had broken up with him because Alex wouldn’t be able to focus and while he’s visited his grandpa a few times, he has no idea how to describe what’s happened without telling him details that need to stay private.

But it’s clear that just being around his grandpa isn’t enough comfort and nothing he’s done so far has helped him move forward. Maybe if Alex tells his grandpa some details about what happened, he’ll feel better about things. Maybe his grandpa will have advice on how Alex can move forward. In any case, talking to his grandpa has to be better than lying in bed, listening to music and remembering memories that only make him sad.

Sitting up, he unbuckles the collar, tosses it into the bedside table drawer and fumbles for his phone before calling his grandpa’s number.

* * *

The Grand Duke’s phone rings while Jeffrey’s tidying up the Grand Duke’s desk, trying to focus on his duties and not his aching heart. It’s both horrible and a relief that Alex hadn’t come to play cards with his grandfather since Jeffrey had broken things off with him. The Grand Duke had gone to see Alex a few times but Gary had attended to them there. So far, Jeffrey hasn’t had to be in Alex’s presence since he’d broken up with him and that’s been a relief. It’s a selfish thing to be relieved about because it helps Jeffrey while it hurts Alex, but Jeffrey’s selfishness has already been well established.

Discreetly clearing his throat, he picks up the phone and his training takes over as he rattles out the appropriate greeting while his mind is a million miles away. “Good evening, you’ve reached His Royal Highness Grand Duke Reginald’s residence. This is Jeffrey speaking. How may I help you?”

“Hi, Jeffrey. It’s Alex.”

Jeffrey freezes. “Hello, sir,” he mumbles, his training keeping his lips moving while his brain is freaking out. “How may I help you?”

“Is my grandpa available or is he busy? I wanted to come see him.”

The Prince sounds sad. He’s sad because he’s heartbroken that Jeffrey had abandoned him and terminated their relationship without explanation. Jeffrey’s throat tightens and that guilt comes creeping in again, but much stronger than before. “Let me check with him, sir. One moment, please.”

On auto-pilot, he puts the call on hold and turns to the Grand Duke, who’s sitting on his couch and watching television. “Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Prince Alexander’s on the phone. He’s wondering if you’re available to see him.”

The Grand Duke’s eyes widen and he looks both worried and relieved. Jeffrey knows it’s because the Grand Duke has been worried about Alex’s strange behavior over the last few weeks and Jeffrey’s heart squeezes again. This is all his fault.

“Yes, I’m available. Absolutely. Ask him if he’d like something to eat or drink.”

“Yes, sir.” Jeffrey picks up the phone again, his mind still twisting with a thousand different thoughts. “Sir?”

“Yes, Jeffrey?”

“He’s available. Would you like anything specific to eat or drink when you arrive?”

“Some hot chocolate and cinnamon buns would be great.”

Hearing the request makes Jeffrey nearly burst into tears and he’s shaking a bit. Those are Alex’s comfort foods. The Prince is coming to talk to his grandfather about what Jeffrey had done to him. And even worse, Jeffrey will have to silently stand by as he watches the Prince talk about the heartache that Jeffrey had forced on him.

* * *

The reality is so much worse than what Jeffrey had imagined. He debates taking his time in the kitchen, but that would be a horrible violation of his duties. Plus, witnessing the Prince’s pain is what Jeffrey deserves.

When Prince Alexander arrives, his eyes are filled with sadness and he only offers Jeffrey a half hearted smile. Jeffrey lets him in and quickly leaves for the kitchen. When he gets back with the tray of cinnamon buns and hot chocolate, the Prince is sitting on the couch next to the Grand Duke and his eyes are already shimmering with tears.

The Grand Duke is rubbing his back as Jeffrey sets the tray on the coffee table and tries to stop his hands from shaking as he grabs the pot with his white gloved hands and carefully pours them two mugs of hot chocolate.

“I’m very glad you’re ready to talk to me about whatever it is that’s been weighing so heavily on you,” the Grand Duke says softly. “Take your time and I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

The Prince draws in a shaky breath. “There’s nothing anybody can do to help. I—I lost a very good friend.”

The Grand Duke reels back, looking shocked. “A friend of yours passed away?”

Jeffrey clenches his jaw after preparing the cinnamon buns and stepping away, clasping his hands behind his back as he tries to keep his own tears back. No, the Prince’s friend hadn’t passed away. His friend had betrayed him and broken his heart.

“N-no. He decided he didn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

“What? Why would he do such a thing?”

“I don’t know.” Alex’s face crumbles and tears slide down his face. “That’s the worst part. We’ve been friends for a year and I really loved having him as a friend. He—he was very important to me. Then he told me he didn’t want to be friends with me anymore.”

The Grand Duke frowns. “Surely he gave you a reason?”

Alex shakes his head as his body shakes. “No,” he chokes out. “He just sent me a text message and told me he didn’t think we should be friends any longer and he told me not to contact him again. I tried asking him for an explanation but he hasn’t responded.”

His grandfather seems bewildered at Jeffrey’s outrageous behavior, as he should. “I can’t believe he’d do such a thing.”

“The worst part is that I can’t move forward. I didn’t do anything to warrant him breaking things off so abruptly and that made me angry at first, but the anger’s faded and now I’m stuck. I can’t move forward because it hurts too much but staying stuck is also hurting me,” Alex whispers, his voice choked with tears.

Jeffrey’s clenching his jaw so hard to keep from bursting into tears that he’s afraid he’ll crack his teeth. His heart is tearing into shreds and his guilt is overwhelming him. How could he have done this? How could he have hurt Alex like this? Alex deserves so much better than this, especially because Jeffrey’s in love with him. How could his stupid panic have made him hurt Alex like this?

“Jeffrey!”

The Grand Duke’s annoyed tone makes Jeffrey’s eyes jerk over to him. The older man is frowning at him and making a small hand gesture. Realizing he’s meant to be getting Alex tissues, Jeffrey rushes to bring a box of tissues from the Grand Duke’s desk drawer and slides it onto the coffee table while keeping his eyes off a crying Alex so he doesn’t burst into tears too.

The Grand Duke keeps rubbing Alex’s back and hands him a wad of tissues as Alex keeps sobbing. “If he decided not to be friends with you without providing a reason then he doesn’t seem like a good friend anyway.”

“But he was,” Alex whispers in a choked voice. “That’s the problem. I loved spending time with him so much and we got along so well. He was the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Was it your title? Do you think that scared him off?”

Alex shakes his head. “No. He didn’t know who I was.”

“What do you mean?”

Waving a dismissive hand, Alex wipes his nose with the tissues. “We kept some things secret from each other. I didn’t know what he did for a living and he didn’t know who I was. But that didn’t matter. We got along so well and his friendship is important to me. Losing that hurts so damn much.”

The Grand Duke sighs softly as he hands Alex a cinnamon bun plate and says something comforting to him that Jeffrey can’t hear because his guilt is crushing him.

He wants to fall to his knees in front of Alex, beg him for forgiveness and explain himself. Breaking up with him had been a stupid, impulsive decision and he should have admitted to Alex that he’d found out who he was, then been honest with him about who he was and then they could have decided what they wanted to do going forward. Their iron-clad non-disclosure agreements would have meant neither of them would be threatened by the other using their newfound knowledge against the other for financial gain so that wouldn’t have been a concern. If Alex decided he didn’t feel comfortable being friends—never mind being dominated—by a member of the Royal Staff, they could have parted ways amicably.

But Jeffrey hadn’t done any of that. He’d just panicked and run away, leaving the man he loves standing alone; confused and deeply hurt.

He knows what he has to do. No matter how painful the conversation will be, Jeffrey can’t let the man he loves continue living with this pain. He needs to do what he should have done in the hotel room right after he’d picked up the Prince’s keys.


	9. Chapter 9

As much as Jeffrey wants to talk to Alex about the situation right away, he keeps his words locked inside of him during the rest of the Prince’s visit. Alex will probably be shocked when he finds out the truth and that would put him into a very awkward situation if his grandfather is there to witness the whole thing. Jeffrey’s already caused Alex so much suffering; he needs to do the right thing and wait.

So he waits until Alex has calmed down, eaten a few cinnamon buns, drunk a few mugs of hot chocolate and listened to the Grand Duke distract him with funny stories from years gone by. Eventually, he stops crying and even chuckles a bit at one of his grandfather’s stories.

Jeffrey gets more upset and wound up as time goes by because every minute that’s passing brings him closer to the confession that he has to make, but he doesn’t allow himself to entertain the thought of changing his mind. He owes Alex an explanation, even if Alex will never forgive him or decides he doesn’t want to be friends—never mind anything else—with a servant. Even if Alex’s anger results in Jeffrey losing his job, that’s a punishment Jeffrey deserves.

Once the Prince leaves the Grand Duke’s quarters, Jeffrey cleans up, bids the Grand Duke good night and brings the tray down to the kitchen without being aware of any of it. When he’s back in his room, Jeffrey paces around, terrified about what he’s about to do but refusing to continue being a coward. He loves Alex and he’ll never live with himself if he continues staying silent and letting him suffer like this.

Taking a deep breath, he perches on the edge of his bed and grabs his phone as he attaches the voice distortion clip to the corner of his lips. He’d considered calling Alex without the clip on, but he wants to lead into things slowly and prevent Alex from being caught off guard by shock the way Jeffrey was.

Before he can change his mind, he unblocks the Prince’s number and quickly calls him. The phone rings a few times as Jeffrey’s heart hammers in his chest and he tries to keep breathing.

Then Alex picks up. “He—hello?” He’s wearing the voice distortion clip but the word is a whisper, full of hope, desperation and surprise. There’s so much pain in that one little word.

Jeffrey squeezes his eyes closed. “Hi.” He’s whispering too because his strength is deserting him. This might be the last civil conversation he ever has with the man he’s in love with, but he has to do this.

Alex doesn’t respond. Jeffrey listens to him breathing in short, frantic bursts as if he’s on the verge of hyperventilating.

Before anything else, Jeffrey says the words he should have said weeks ago. No matter how the rest of this conversation will go, he needs to apologize. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The panicked breathing on the other end gets worse. “Why?” he chokes out.

“Because I hurt you and I’m a horrible person for doing that.”

“No. Why did you break up with me?” Alex’s voice is barely above a whisper, filled with pain.

Clenching his jaw, Jeffrey tries to swallow through his tight throat as he clenches the hand not holding his phone. It’s time. He needs to level the playing field. It’s the decent thing to do and it’s what Alex deserves. “I found out who you are and I freaked out.”

The frantic breathing stops. “You...what?” The Prince’s voice is louder, probably taken off guard by the direction of the conversation.

“I’m so sorry,” Jeffrey whispers, his heart aching. “I was stupid and I saw your keys lying on your bag and I had no right to look at them, but I recognized the hockey charm and—”

“You know who I am?!” Alex’s voice sounds half scared and half angry. He doesn’t seem to care how Jeffrey found out, which Jeffrey can understand.

He sighs softly. “Yes.”

“That’s—there’s no way—how...” His voice drifts off.

“I’m sorry,” Jeffrey whispers, his heart aching at his stupidity. He’d ruined the best friendship and best relationship he’d ever had and possibly ever will have.

“You...you really know who I am? You know my _name?_ ”

“Yes, sir,” Jeffrey mumbles. The harsh tone in the Prince’s voice, along with the direction of the conversation is slowly pulling them away from being Jeffrey and Alex as they head towards their normal dynamic: Prince Alexander and Jeffrey, Royal butler.

“What’s—what’s my name?” Alex demands. He sounds nearly hysterical, as if he’s hoping Jeffrey will be wrong and everything can go back to normal.

Jeffrey clenches his jaw and nearly bursts into tears. This is the beginning of the end, but he owes Alex this conversation. “You’re Prince Alexander Wallace, sir.”

There’s silence from the other end.

After waiting for a while, Jeffrey figures the Prince is in shock so he keeps talking. Partly, he wants to fill the silence but he also wants to find a way to salvage what’s left of the situation, if that’s even possible. Until Alex hangs up on him, Jeffrey still has a chance to fix this mess. “Sir, please don’t worry about me divulging any information about our association to anybody. Our non-disclosure agreements are solid. Even if they weren’t, I’d never tell anybody about our friendship or...the other things we did together.”

“How...I can’t... _fuck!_ How did you find out?” He sounds devastated and also scared.

“I recognized the hockey charm on your keys, sir. I remember when you showed it to the Grand Duke. You also showed it to the Duchess during the official Royal Family portrait. You’d tossed your keys on your bag in the hotel room and I was already getting suspicious about who you were and I...decided to look at them. I know I shouldn’t have and it was a horrible violation of your privacy, but I was already panicking because there had been so many coincidences which—”

“What—what coincidences? What the hell are you talking about? Were you spying on me?!”

Jeffrey’s heart nearly stops. “No, sir! I’d never—I’d never do that. I’m in love with you and I wouldn’t hurt you like that.” That’s a stupid thing to say so he quickly tries correcting himself. “I know I hurt you by looking at the keys and breaking up with you when I panicked, but that’s the first time I’ve fucked up, I swear.”

He’s barely aware of what he’s saying as he keeps rambling, trying to explain. “The day you had those horrible engagements where you forgot parts of your speech and the stupid plaque curtain didn’t open right, my sub also had a bad day. Then you both went to your grandfather for support and had cinnamon buns and the coincidences were so strange and I couldn’t put them out of my head. I know I should have. Or I should have insisted that we stay even more impersonal with each other, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just trying to come to terms with the idea that you might be...who you are. that’s why I looked at the keys.”

“How the fuck do you know these things?!”

Frowning, Jeffrey blinks, caught off-guard by the direction of the conversation. “What things?”

“About me showing my keys to my grandpa or eating cinnamon buns with him?! How the hell did you connect that to who I really am? The public doesn’t know any of those things and I’ve always worked hard to keep it that way, so I want to know how the hell you found out!”

Jeffrey closes his eyes as tears clog his throat. It’s finally time. He’d torn away the Prince’s anonymity and it’s time for Jeffrey to do the right thing and toss his own away too. Reaching up, he slowly pulls the voice distortion clip off his mouth. “My name is Jeffrey Larson, sir. I’m your grandfather’s butler,” he whispers.

* * *

Alex stops breathing. He sits there, clutching his phone and gaping at nothing as shock and horror flood him. He’d recognized Jeffrey’s voice right away.

His dom is Jeffrey. The person who has been spanking him and fucking him is a member of the Royal Staff. The person who has the other key to Alex’s cock cage and used to call Alex his good boy is a butler. The same butler who had stood next to the couch an hour ago as Alex had sobbed to his grandpa about missing him.

His first instinct is to panic and he quickly ends the call and drops his phone as if it’ll burn him.

His heart is racing as he stares down at his phone with horror.

Jeffrey is his dom. Jeffrey has spent the last year seeing him doing all kinds of things that would destroy Alex if the media ever found out. What if Jeffrey’s been recording their sessions?! What if Jeffrey goes to the media as an ‘anonymous source’ and tells them that His Royal Highness Prince Alexander loves getting spanked during sex and will beg for his dom’s cock? Could their NDA still be enforced? Would it even matter?

Alex realizes with horror that even if Jeffrey broke the NDA, that wouldn’t salvage the situation. The damage would already be done and the Royal Family would be rocked by the scandal. Alex could never show his face in public ever again. The scandal would overwhelm everything he does and he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his Royal duties any longer. Even if he enforced the NDA and sued Jeffrey for divulging those secrets, the media would probably pay the money for him if Jeffrey agreed to give them more intimate information. Plus, none of that would undo the damage that would already have been done.

A thousand memories fly through Alex’s head:

Alex proudly clasping his hands behind his back and calling Jeffrey ‘sir’ while Jeffrey opens his pants and inspects the cock cage locked around his cock.

Alex tied face-down on the bed, his cock stiff and his face covered in tears while Jeffrey spanks him with the wooden paddle and Alex moans and cries from pleasure.

Alex kneeling on the floor, his hands clasped behind his back as Jeffrey holds his chin and smiles down at him as Alex begs to suck his cock.

He’s shaking as more and more memories come back to him. They’re the same memories that used to bring him such joy. That joy had turned to heartbreak after his dom had broken up with him. Now, that heartbreak had turned to fear. Jeffrey could ruin Alex’s life with just one word.

* * *

Jeffrey’s face crumbles and he starts to cry when Alex hangs up on him. It’s certainly poetic justice. Alex is reeling from shock now, just as Jeffrey had been. But unlike when their roles were reversed, Jeffrey isn’t left confused and desperate for an explanation.

No, he knows exactly what he did wrong. When Alex had started divulging information that was too personal and made him easier to identify—like mentioning his grandfather’s existence and the cinnamon buns thing—Jeffrey should have saved them both and reminded him to keep things more impersonal. Yes, Jeffrey would have hated it and he’d continued living with the regret that he’ll never get to truly know the man he was in love with, but it would have been the responsible thing to do. Jeffrey’s the one with more experience in this situation and he should have kept them on track.

Even worse, Jeffrey looked at those damn keys and that was clearly a violation of their agreement. He should have done the right thing and broken up with Alex when things got too personal. Alex would have understood. He would have been upset that he’d indirectly compromised his own anonymity but he would have agreed that they shouldn’t continue associating with each other.

But Jeffrey had allowed his heart to keep leading him and ignored that his brain was telling him to stop digging into things...and now, here they are. At least Jeffrey’s finally done the right thing and explained the situation to Alex. Leaving him floundering in that confusion and pain would have been horrible.

Now, Jeffrey’s done as much as he can to fix this mess. He has no right to contact the Prince again. All he can do is treat him the same professional way he always has when they encounter each other during their duties. The rest of the time, Jeffrey will stay quiet and hope that his heart will eventually heal.

* * *

Alex spends the next week in a constant state of shock and panic. He does his best to focus on his duties, but he has a joint engagement with his grandpa on Wednesday, which means he comes face to face with Jeffrey for the first time since he’d learned who his dom really is.

For a moment, Alex considers claiming he’s sick and skipping the engagement, but the public loves joint engagements and tons of people will be showing up to see both Alex and his grandpa and he can’t disappoint the public due to his personal issues.

Thankfully, they take separate cars to the engagement—Alex going with Gary and Jeffrey going with his grandpa—but when they get out of the cars, Alex can’t help staring at Jeffrey.

But it turns out, he didn’t have to worry. Jeffrey doesn’t meet his eyes and stays focused on his grandpa, just like he should. Even during the walkabout, Jeffrey stays close to his grandpa and never says or does anything that might give away the fact that he used to fuck Alex through the mattress with Alex begging for him to fuck him harder.

By the time Saturday rolls around, Alex’s shock is starting to be replaced by confusion. There hasn’t been anything in the media about Alex’s...extra curricular activities. Jeffrey’s supposedly known who Alex is for weeks now, but he hasn’t told anybody. In fact, he hasn’t treated Alex any differently than he did before...or ever, really.

When he’s playing cards with his grandpa that Saturday, Alex’s eyes keep drifting over to Jeffrey. As usual, Jeffrey has served them drinks and he’s standing off to the side. Ironically, he’s standing the same way that Alex would have stood while waiting for his dom’s orders. Hands clasped behind his back, his eyes staring at the far wall and his entire body braced to receive an order.

The strangeness of the situation is starting to make Alex doubt everything. How is it possible that Jeffrey’s his dom? How could Jeffrey have spent weeks knowing who his sub was, but he’d continued treating Alex with the same professionalism that he always had?

Alex is also confused about one little thing that Jeffrey had told him on the phone. In the middle of Jeffrey’s rambling explanation of how he’d discovered Alex’s true identity, he’d mentioned being in love with him. At the time, Alex hadn’t paid the confession any mind because he’d been panicking at the other stuff Jeffrey had said. But is it possible that Jeffrey is actually in love with him?!

The whole thing is bizarre and while Alex keeps glancing over at Jeffrey while he’s supposed to be focusing on his cards, he comes to a conclusion. There must be more to this whole thing. There’s no way Jeffrey’s really his dom. There’s also no way Jeffrey’s actually in love with him. Everybody knows Jeffrey loves the Royal Family, so he probably loves Prince Alexander the same way he loves the Grand Duke. But the whole love thing isn’t what’s keeping Alex distracted. He’s become more and more convinced that Jeffrey wasn’t telling him the whole truth. He couldn’t possibly have been Alex’s dom for a whole year, then discovered his identity and kept treating him so normally.

What if it hadn’t even been Jeffrey on the phone? But it had sounded like Jeffrey...

But there’s no way...

Lowering his cards, Alex decides it’s time to finally get to the bottom of this insane situation. He wants to get back to his normal life. His heartache will eventually heal and he’ll be smarter when he goes back on the BDSM website to find a new dom. Most importantly, he wants to stop constantly crying on his grandpa’s shoulder and being a distracted card playing partner. “Grandpa?”

“Yes?”

“I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not feeling very well. Do you mind if we cut our game short?”

His grandpa frowns with concern. “Of course not. Do you need Jeffrey to assist you?”

Already, Jeffrey’s stepping forward, as if he’s going to help Alex back to his room and assist him in some way. There’s a tiny hint of concern on Jeffrey’s face, but the rest of him is as professional as he always is.

That settles it. There’s no way it had been Jeffrey on the phone. It doesn’t matter that Jeffrey had said his name and shared details that very few other people would know. The whole thing is too strange to be real.

“No, that’s fine.” He directs a strained smile at his grandpa. “I’ll be alright. Getting a good night’s rest should set me right.”

“Alright then. Call me tomorrow and let me know how you’re doing.”

“Of course.” Smiling, Alex stands up and hugs his grandpa while he ignores Jeffrey.

He continues ignoring Jeffrey as the latter opens the door for him and bids him a good night. Alex is on a mission and he’s going to get to the bottom of this situation once and for all so he can finally move on with his life.

As soon as he’s back in his room, he calls his dom. For the first time, he’s not wearing his voice distortion clip because there’s no point. As the phone rings, Alex starts feeling irritated. He doesn’t know who’s playing games with him, but it’s going to stop now.

Finally, his dom picks up. “Hi.” He’s whispering.

“I want proof,” Alex demands.

“Hang on, hang on. I’m in the hallway.” It’s definitely Jeffrey’s voice, but that must be a trick.

“I don’t care where you are. I want proof.”

“Proof of what?” He’s still whispering.

“Proof of everything. I don’t believe you’re Jeffrey Larson. Jeffrey hasn’t acted any differently towards me over the last few weeks than he has in the ten years we’ve known each other. Nobody is that good of an actor. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I don’t appreciate you dragging a respected member of the Royal Staff into the situation if Jeffrey has nothing to do with this, which I’m sure he doesn’t.”

Jeffrey—or the person who sounds like him—sighs softly. “Sir, I swear I’m—”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear one more word out of you. If all of this is true, then you’re going to come to my room right now and show me the key.”

“The...key?”

Alex smiles a bit smugly, happy to hear Jeffrey’s confusion—or whoever the hell he’s talking to. It seems he was right about the whole thing. “Yeah. The key. You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

Another soft sigh, but it sounds pained. “Of course I know, sir. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Then the phone disconnects, leaving Alex blinking at his door. That’s not how he’d expected the conversation to go. He’d expected the Jeffrey impersonator to ask him questions about the key or make up some excuse about having lost it and being too busy to come to his room right now.

His stomach clenches with discomfort because he’s starting to circle back to the initial truth. Jeffrey’s really his dom. On one hand, it would be nice to know that this disaster has been kept restricted within the palace walls and it’ll be easier to do damage control. But on the other hand, how is Alex supposed to move on with his life if his dom is really Jeffrey?!

More importantly, a very scary thought is starting to emerge. If his dom is really Jeffrey then would Alex want to continue their relationship? Unfortunately, the answer to that is an immediate ‘yes’. But that’s irrelevant. Their relationship can’t possibly continue and Jeffrey wouldn’t want it to continue and the whole thing will continue being a mess. Then his thoughts grind to a halt when his door buzzes.

It has to be a random staff member. Please make it be a random staff member. But also—please make it be Jeffrey.

With shaking hands, he activates the video screen and Jeffrey’s standing on the other side, his phone clutched in his hand and his face pale.

His throat tightening, Alex has to fight the urge to go hide in his bedroom. But that would be rude and childish. He’d summoned Jeffrey here. He hadn’t thought Jeffrey would actually appear, but here he is. And now Alex has to deal with it. His numb fingers unlock his door and he pulls it open, staring at Jeffrey.

They both stand there, pale and scared. Jeffrey’s sliding his phone into his pocket and clasping his hands behind his back, as if this were any other day. “Good evening, sir,” he says, his voice sounding strained.

Time to see whether all of this is true or not. If it is, Alex has no idea what he’ll do. But it’s time to make sure things are as they appear to be. “Show me the key,” he demands.

Without a word, Jeffrey reaches up and pulls his white bowtie loose enough that he can undo the top buttons of his shirt with his white gloved hands. Then he pulls that familiar chain over his head and holds it out toward Alex, the red key dangling from it.

It’s ridiculous, but seeing that key and knowing what it used to represent makes Alex’s cock twitch a bit within the confines of his cage. It’s the first sign of excitement his cock has shown in weeks, but now isn’t the time. Now it’s time to accept the fact that everything Jeffrey had told him is true.

This is his dom. This is the man Alex has knelt for and obeyed without question for a year. This is also the same man who just finished serving him drinks and standing at attention, ready to obey Alex’s every wish. Blinking rapidly, Alex can’t meld the two images together. Jeffrey serves him but Alex has been serving Jeffrey. None of it makes sense.

Then Jeffrey makes it a hundred times worse by frowning at him. “Sir? You look very pale. I think you should sit down.”

Alex keeps staring at him and the red key dangling from his white gloved hand. Jeffrey wears those white gloves as part of his uniform, which he wears to serve Alex. But the red key represents Alex serving him. Right at this moment, Alex’s cock is still locked in its cage and Jeffrey’s holding the key.

“None of this makes sense,” Alex whispers.

Jeffrey looks pained. “I know, sir. I’m so sorry that I ruined everything. I’m an idiot.”

Turning away from Jeffrey, Alex numbly walks into his room and collapses on his couch. Jeffrey hangs back in the doorway, his training preventing him from entering or leaving without being given permission to. Alex’s cock is locked up, waiting for permission from Jeffrey to be free, while Jeffrey’s standing by the door, waiting for permission from Alex to enter or leave.

Every moment is filled with these contradictions and it’s keeping Alex’s head spinning. He doesn’t want to give Jeffrey permission to enter or go away. Not because he doesn’t want Jeffrey to come in or go, but because he needs his dom to take charge of the situation and help him. He needs his dom, not a servant. He wants to go back to the simple life he had before where everybody around him serves him but it’s nicely balanced out by Alex being allowed to serve his dom. But now, his dom has turned into a person who also serves him.

Alex finds himself wishing his dom had been anybody else. Any random person. Or better yet, if his dom were some rich, important person in Hiveria, the situation would be very clear. But it’s not and Alex doesn’t know how to deal with this. His throat is getting tight and he wants to curl up and cry at how horrible the whole situation is. It had been painful to lose his dom, but now he’s also losing the illusion that had surrounded him.

“Sir? Would you like me to go?”

Alex draws in a shaky breath and squeezes his eyes closed. “What I want is something you can’t give me and you wouldn’t want to anyway,” he mumbles.

“That’s impossible. I’ll give you anything and do anything for you.”

Those words make the pain worse and Alex lets out an ugly laugh. “Yeah. Your loyalty to the monarchy has never been in doubt, Jeffrey. But I don’t need a servant right now.”

“You misunderstood, sir. Of course, I’ll do anything for Your Royal Highness. But if you need me to do something for Alex, I’d be just as willing.”

Alex freezes and glances at Jeffrey, who’s still standing in the doorway, his hands still clasped behind his back. But his face is tight with pain and his shoulders are slumped, which are both violations of protocol. His words are exactly what Alex wanted to hear, but he doesn’t believe it. “I don’t think you can force yourself to treat me like a normal person,” he whispers, shaking.

“I think I can, sir.”

Alex lets out another pained laugh. “You’re calling me ‘sir’ and you’re standing in the doorway because you can’t make yourself come in until I give you permission. I don’t blame you for not being able to ignore who I am, but please don’t pretend that you can give me something that you can’t. Because I really do need a friend right now and it’s clear that you can’t be that person. Please, just go.”

As soon as Alex says the words, he realizes he just gave Jeffrey a test. If Jeffrey obeys him and leaves, that’ll be the final nail in the coffin that their relationship is resting in.

Jeffrey hesitates for a while but then he lets out a deep breath and steps inside, shutting the door behind him.

Staring at him with wide eyes, Alex feels hope slowly blooming in his heart. Is there actually a chance...?

Slowly, Jeffrey walks towards him. It’s clear he’s fighting his training with every step, but he doesn’t stop until he’s standing by the couch. He just violated a direct order from a member of the Royal Family but he did the right thing if he’s here as a friend.

“If you really want me to go, tell me again and I’ll leave.”

Alex gapes at him, having no idea what to say or do. On one hand, he wants to slide to his knees and beg Jeffrey to go back to the way things were. He’ll be Alex and Jeffrey will be Jeffrey and they can make it work. But does he have the right to ask Jeffrey such a thing? Since Alex is still in charge at this moment, he shouldn’t make such a request. He’ll never know if Jeffrey is agreeing because it’s what he wants or if his love for the monarchy is guiding his actions.

They stare at each other for another long moment, neither knowing how to proceed. Then Jeffrey clenches his jaw as he reaches up and takes off his red jacket. He carefully drapes it over the back of the couch. That’s followed by his white vest and his bowtie. Then he takes off his gloves too. Technically, his pants and dress shirt are still part of his uniform, but he’s taken off the most identifiable parts of his uniform—the parts that clearly demonstrate that he’s a member of the Royal Staff. Then he pulls the metal chain back over his head, letting the red key lie against his white shirt.

Then to Alex’s shock, Jeffrey slowly sits down next to him.

Every single part of the process had been a violation of protocol. Jeffrey had deliberately pushed aside years of training to make a point and Alex feels tears brimming his eyes at what it means.

Jeffrey looks terrified, but also determined. “I won’t be upset if this isn’t what you want, sir. Tell me I’m overstepping my boundaries and I’ll put my uniform back on and go. I swear, I’ll never tell anybody about our relationship and I’ll never treat you with anything but the upmost respect and professionalism.”

That ‘sir’ makes Alex’s heart twist. He hates that ‘sir’. It’s a sign that Jeffrey’s trying to do something that he might not be able to do and Alex can’t bear the thought of jumping back into things only to find that Jeffrey can’t push aside his title. “This won’t ever work if you keep calling me ‘sir’,” he whispers. “I understand why you do it but that’s not how I want things to go. It should be the other way around.”

Jeffrey smiles softly, but his eyes are still pained. “I can stop calling you ‘sir’ as soon as you tell me it’s okay for me to do that. I don’t wanna disrespect you.”

Alex draws in a shaky breath. “I want my friend back. I also want my dom back. If you don’t feel comfortable taking on those roles now that you know who I am, I understand. But please don’t pretend you can do this if you can’t because my heart’s already broken and I can’t handle that.”

Looking away from him, Jeffrey stares at the far wall, deep in thought.

Alex waits, his stomach clenched as he tries not to shake or burst into tears.

“I fell in love with you months ago,” Jeffrey finally says.

Blinking, Alex stares at him, confused at the change in topic. He has no idea how to respond to that so he stays silent.

“That’s why I was so confused when I found out who you were. I thought I was in love with Prince Alexander Wallace. But then I realized I fell in love with Alex. The guy who plays cards with his grandfather every Saturday. The guy who beats himself up if he screws up doing his job, even if it wasn’t his fault. The guy who loves listening to music that most people our age scoff at. But it’s not just your role that’s making the situation complicated. I work for your family. I love my job and I love the monarchy. I love Prince Alexander the same way I love the Grand Duke. But that’s not the same as my love for Alex. At the same time, I understand why you’d be uncomfortable being in a relationship with a servant, never mind having a dom who works as a servant in your household.”

Alex lets out a choked laugh at how ridiculous that is. “I don’t care what your job is. Technically, we both work for the monarchy, we just have different roles. Our jobs never gave us problems when were keeping them secrets from each other. I don’t see why that would change anything.”

Jeffrey stares at him and for the first time, his eyes widen and there’s some hope in them. It’s the same hope that’s burning brighter and brighter in Alex’s heart and he can barely breathe.

“You understand that I’d have to treat you a certain way whenever we’re in public?”

Alex notices Jeffrey hasn’t included the usual ‘sir’ and that hope makes his heart race as he nods frantically. “Of course. I’d have to treat you a certain way when we’re in public too. Not only that, but I have to behave a certain way in public anyway. You know that. I wouldn’t want our relationship having anything to do with our public lives. That would ruin things.”

It occurs to Alex that this might be a deal breaker, but Jeffrey’s nodding immediately. “I agree, si—sorry. I agree. No offense, but I like being the unimportant face in the background of photos. Being known as Prince Alexander’s boyfriend would completely change my life and that’s not something I’m comfortable dealing with right now. In fact, I don’t know if I’d ever be comfortable with that? I haven’t really given it much thought, but my initial reaction isn’t full enthusiasm.” Jeffrey makes a face. “I understand if that’s not what you want, but...”

“I’m not enthusiastic about that either,” Alex says quickly. “I loved keeping our relationship just between us. It made me feel so good that I had somebody I could be myself with and I didn’t have to worry about the public’s opinions or how the public would change things.”

Jeffrey takes a deep breath. “I’d want that too. But I’m not just concerned about the public.”

Alex frowns. “Grandpa would be fine with it.”

“He would. But the Grand Empress wouldn’t and neither would Mrs. Gutierrez. I don’t think they’d have problems with me being your boyfriend, but they’d expect me to fulfill the public role of being your boyfriend. Obviously, that would mean I can’t continue doing my normal duties so things would have to massively change for me and...anyway. That’s not the point. Even if we pretend they’d be fine with it, the staff gossip would be a huge distraction for everyone. I like my life the way it is and I don’t want to completely change it, even for the man I love.”

Jeffrey looks scared about that last admission, but Alex is nodding again. “I’m fine with that. I don’t want to deal with gossip either. I just want things to go back to the way they were.” But then he has second thoughts about that last bit. “Well, I’d love for some things to change a bit...”

“Like what?” Jeffrey sounds very eager and that gives Alex the bravery to finally put his long-held desires into words.

“I know you have strict rules about kissing and cuddling and all of that, but I was wondering if we could meet in the middle?”

Jeffrey’s eyes are huge and he’s shaking. “I...” He stops and takes a shaky breath. “You have no idea how hard it’s been not to kiss you or touch you as much as I wanted to. I was an idiot and I thought keeping those boundaries in place would keep my feelings platonic. Clearly, that failed miserably.”

Things are moving so quickly and Alex barely knows what to think and how he feels. He can’t believe this is all happening. “You really love me?” he whispers.

“Yes.” There’s no trace of doubt in Jeffrey’s voice. “Yes, I do.”

“And you’re sure you’re not in love with the Royal me?”

“I’m sure. I love you, just plain, normal Alex you. I think you’re amazing and I’d be the luckiest guy on earth if you gave me a second chance.”

That abruptly reminds Alex of how they’d ended up here. On one hand, they wouldn’t be the verge of re-starting their relationship on a new level but on the other hand, Jeffrey could have handled things better. “I’m not upset that you found out who I was. But I _am_ upset that you broke one of our rules and then just left me.”

Jeffrey grabs his hands, squeezing them hard and stares at him, his eyes desperate. “I promise I won’t ever do something like that again. I was a moron and I almost lost the best thing that ever happened to me. I swear to you, I’ll do better. If you give me a second chance, I won’t ruin it again.”

Alex smiles as that hope warms him from head to toe. Jeffrey’s acting like Alex needs to think twice about things, but he doesn’t. Maybe he should, but he’s so desperate to have his friend and his dom back that he’ll forgive and forget what happened in the past. “I’m happy to give you a second chance.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, absolutely. I loved what we had so much and I think we can build something that’s even better and I think there’s a good chance I’ll end up falling in love with you too. I think it’ll be amazing.”

Their smiles are growing stronger with every passing moment and they’re clutching each other’s hands hard, but Alex is still hesitating. It takes him a moment to figure out why. “Would you want to go back to the way things were?”

“Yes.” There’s no hesitation.

“Would you want to be my dom still? I understand if you just want to have a normal relationship and that’s fine. I’d learn to accept that. I love spending time with you and getting spanked is just a bonus.”

Jeffrey sucks in a sharp breath. “It would be an honor to be your dom again.” Then he releases one of Alex’s hands to hold it up firmly. “Not because you’re a Prince. But because you’re an amazing sub and I love you and getting to be your dom again would be a gift.”

They sit there, staring at each other and Alex starts shaking even harder as his heart pounds. Because now they’ve said everything there’s to say. They’re on the same page. Everything is clear. Alex is about to get his friend and his dom back, but in a new, better relationship. A relationship that’s not just filled with affection, but genuine love. It’s the type of relationship Alex has spent years dreaming about but never thinking he’d actually find, never mind with somebody who loves him for who he really is and not what his title is.

“Will you really do this for me?” Alex whispers, his throat tightening. His emotions are overwhelming him and he’s shaking again and on the verge of tears.

Jeffrey releases his hands and clutches his face, rubbing his cheeks with his thumbs. From one moment to the next, that look of uncertainty disappears from Jeffrey’s eyes and he gets that determined, confident look on his face that Alex recognizes immediately.

This is his dom.

Leaning forward, his dom kisses Alex’s forehead. The feel of his warm lips against Alex’s skin makes him choke out a whimper and he squeezes his eyes closed as his tears start to fall.

His dom covers his face in slow, hard kisses. “I’m gonna take care of my good boy, I promise,” he whispers against Alex’s skin. “My precious boy. My precious Alex.”

Shaking harder, Alex lets out a sob as his emotions overwhelm him completely.

Then for the first time, his dom brushes a soft kiss over his lips and pulls Alex into his arms, holding him tight, combining two things that Alex has been so desperate for. Alex clings to him and buries his face in his dom’s neck as he cries, grateful and happy.

His dom rubs his back and runs a hand through his hair, gently massaging his scalp. “My good boy. My precious Alex,” Jeffrey whispers against his temple, his voice shaking. “I’m so sorry for hurting you. I’m gonna take much better care of you, I promise.”

“Please...please don’t stop,” Alex chokes out.

Jeffrey’s arms tighten around him and he kisses Alex’s temple hard. “I won’t, I promise. We’re gonna stay right here and I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna take care of you, I promise. My good boy.”

And Alex just keeps sobbing, his heart glowing as he shakes while Jeffrey holds him and keeps murmuring reassurances in that strong, confident voice.


	10. Chapter 10

After an embarrassingly long time, Alex finally manages to stop crying, which is a relief. Thankfully, Jeffrey’s holding him a lot tighter than necessary and there are faint tremors running through his body too, indicating he’s having problems with his emotions too, but Alex starts to feel a little silly as time goes by. Sighing softly against his dom’s shoulder, Alex pulls back a bit, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Jeffrey’s frowning at him, looking worried. “How’re you feeling?”

Alex shrugs. He’s still shaking and his emotions are all over the place, but he doesn’t want to keep crying all over his dom.

Jeffrey gently touches his face. “Tell me what you need.”

It’s not a request, but a demand. That’s exactly what Alex needs but he has no idea what he actually needs, until his eyes catch on the red key that’s dangling from the chain around his dom’s neck. It sends a surge of heat through him and his cock twitches. It seems his body has identified what Alex needs before the rest of him did. Despite his mind still whirling with a thousand thoughts, Alex slides off the couch and sinks to his knees by his dom’s feet, clasping his hands behind his back. Just being back in this familiar position makes his heart race as his cock stiffens in his cage. Yes, this is exactly what he needs.

His dom sucks in a sharp breath and his hands twitch before he grabs Alex’s chin and meets his eyes. “Tell me what you want.”

There’s only one answer to that. “I want to be your good boy, sir. Please.”

Jeffrey keeps a strong grip on his chin and stares at him intently, as if he doubts this is really what Alex needs. But it definitely is. The longer he kneels at his dom’s feet, the more desperate he gets. He’s missed his dom so much. “Please, sir,” he whispers, shaking.

Jeffrey’s eyes are filled with sadness and he looks devastated as he gently rubs his thumb over Alex’s chin. “You missed your dom, didn’t you?”

Alex nods, clenching his jaw when the tears threaten to come back. “Yes, sir,” he whispers in a shaky voice.

Jeffrey keeps staring at him, his eyes staying sad and filled with regret. “I’m so damn sorry for abandoning you. I—that was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”

Seeing his dom’s pain helps push Alex’s growing arousal back a bit. Despite Alex having put their break up behind them already and being eager to move forward, it seems his dom isn’t there yet. “It hurt, yes. But you fixed it. You called me and told me everything. You didn’t need to do that, but you did. You have no idea how happy I was when I saw your number come up on my phone.”

Biting his lip, Jeffrey doesn’t look any happier about things. “I still feel guilty as hell.”

That’s when Alex realizes what the problem is. His dom hasn’t forgiven himself and believes Alex hasn’t either and possibly shouldn’t. But that won’t give either of them what they so badly want. Reaching up, Alex grabs Jeffrey’s hand on his chin and squeezes it. “I forgive you.”

“But I—”

“You freaked out when you discovered who I was. Okay. Anybody would. But the shock was even worse for you than it would be for somebody else because you have a much stronger connection to the monarchy than most people. That’s understandable and you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.”

Jeffrey makes a face, unhappy with Alex’s attempts to relieve his guilt. “I should have talked to you right away.”

Alex scoffs. “I would have panicked worse than you did. It would have been a disaster and I don’t know if we could have recovered from that.” He squeezes Jeffrey’s hand hard. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but I think this was the best way it could have happened. I didn’t want to stay anonymous forever but I wouldn’t have ever had the courage to tell you who I was.”

“I felt the same way,” Jeffrey mumbles.

Smiling at bit at having hopefully found a way forward that Jeffrey will follow him on, Alex keeps going. “And one of us would have decided we wanted a real relationship and we would have split up on amicable terms and we wouldn’t have the chance that’s standing right in front of us.”

Jeffrey’s eyes light up a bit, but he still looks cautious. “So you want us to just grab this new chance and move forward?”

“Yes. What happened was horrible, but I think I’ll look back on it and realize it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Those words seem to flip a switch for Jeffrey, because he loses that uncertain look from his face and it’s replaced by the confident look that Alex loves because that’s a look he associates with his dom. Tightening his grip on Alex’s chin, his dom leans over and kisses him hard on the lips. “I’m gonna make damn sure that’s true,” he says against Alex’s lips, his voice hard and full of promise.

Grinning, Alex shivers hard and everything in him becomes desperate for his dom to touch him.

Maybe his dom can see the desperation on his face because he gives Alex that familiar smirk that Alex has missed so much. “Are you in the mood to play?”

Oh, is he ever! “Yes, sir.” Alex’s voice is shaking again but now it’s from excitement.

“You gonna be my good boy?”

“Always, sir.”

His dom’s face lights up in a smile before it turns back into a smirk. “Good. Stand up.”

Alex stumbles to his feet and stands at attention with his hands clasped behind his back. His cock is getting hard and pressing against the cage again and he’s so happy to be back in this familiar position. Then his dom reaches out and cups his caged cock and sparks burst through Alex as he moans.

His dom’s smirk widens and his eyes sparkle. “My present’s nicely wrapped up, isn’t it?”

Pride mingles with his arousal and Alex nods. He’s so damn glad he’d decided to put the cage back on. Jeffrey would have understood if Alex had taken it off and kept the cage shoved in a dark drawer, but this is so much better. “Yes, sir.”

“But you’ve been cleaning it properly?” There’s a worried tone in his dom’s voice.

“Yes, sir.” Alex is on the verge of telling him about the conflicting emotions the cage made him feel while they were apart, but that would make his dom feel guilty again and ruin the mood, so Alex keeps those words to himself.

His dom squeezes the cage harder, which rubs the fabric of his underwear against the exposed parts of his cock and Alex shivers and braces his legs so he doesn’t fall over. He missed his dom so much and he doesn’t know what he wants more: for his dom to keep teasing him, kiss him, spank him, fuck him or a million other things. His hands twitch behind his back and his heart is pounding as his dom keeps rubbing and squeezing his cock.

Thankfully, his dom seems to sense his desperation. “I’m gonna give you what you need, I promise. You just be my good boy and wait for my orders.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex whispers.

His dom keeps massaging the cage and Alex whines softly.

“Hmm...we’re gonna go into the bedroom soon, but I can’t wait that long to see my beautiful present. It’s been too long,” his dom muses.

“Please, sir.” He’s shaking like a leaf.

Slowly, his dom opens Alex’s pants. Once the zipper is down, there’s just his stupid underwear in the way; the cage pressing against it. Alex is so desperate that his hips keep shifting towards his dom. His hands are so tightly clenched together that they’re aching.

Standing up, his dom tugs Alex’s pants down to his knees, then grabs the waistband of his underwear and gently pulls it down until the silver cage finally comes into view. The cage is glinting in the bright light of the living room and Alex’s cock is throbbing inside it, pressing against the bars. The familiar discomfort turns Alex on even more and he’s panting as he stares down at his cock.

His dom makes an appreciative sound in his throat. “Gorgeous as always. Look how hard you are. What a good boy.”

Then his dom wraps both hands around him; one massaging his tight balls and the other twisting around the metal bars. His hand is constantly coming in contact with the exposed parts of his cock and Alex closes his eyes as he pants and shakes. Arousal is pounding through him and he wants to beg his dom to stop but also keep going. But most of all, he wants his dom to keep playing with him any way he wants and keep letting Alex float in this amazing blend of pain and pleasure that keep feeding each other. Unfortunately, Alex’s legs are getting close to giving out and he’s debating asking his dom to slow down or risk embarrassing himself and ruining the mood.

Thankfully, his dom knows him very well and releases his cock without Alex having to say anything. He puts his hands on Alex’s face and pulls his head down to cover his face in soft kisses. He travels all over Alex’s face but gives him extra forehead kisses because those are Alex’s favorite and his dom knows that.

“Good boy. You did so well. My precious Alex.”

A grin spreads over Alex’s face and his dom pulls back and rubs his thumbs over his cheeks. “You like it when I call you Alex, huh?”

Alex’s grin grows. “Yes, sir. I like it a lot.”

“Do you like it better than ‘my good boy’?”

“I love both of them, but hearing you calling me my name is still new so it’s special.”

His dom smiles, his eyes very soft. “I love it too.”

Realizing how much it really means to him to have his dom call him by his name rather than his title or not even knowing his name, brings on a flood of emotions again, but his dom keeps them on track by pulling Alex’s head down and kissing his forehead again. “Time for the bedroom. I wanna unwrap my present and fuck you.”

That sends Alex’s excitement skyrocketing again and he can’t stop smiling.

His dom’s smile matches his as he pulls Alex’s underwear and pants back up. Taking his hand, his dom leads them into Alex’s bedroom. It’s surreal to think that he’s spent weeks in bed, crying and miserable. Now, he’s about to get fucked by his dom on that same bed. Even better, it’ll be the first time his dom fucks him on his bed. It’ll also be the first time his dom fucks him while they both know each other’s names and can see each other’s faces. Alex can’t wait!

Squeezing his hand, his dom stares at him, his eyes filled with heat too. “Clothes off. Do it fast or I might just pull your pants down and bend you over your desk.”

Alex shivers hard at the thought of it and moans.

His dom chuckles, his breathing a little choppy too. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out.

“Oh, you just wait. I’ve spent a whole year dreaming up things I wanted to do to you but couldn’t because of our old arrangement. Now, our only limitations are our imaginations.”

Alex’s cock aches at the implied promise in those words because he realizes he’ll actually get to put his own long harbored fantasies into words, share them with his dom and hopefully have them become reality. “I can’t wait, sir. I’ve been keeping a few fantasies hidden too.”

His dom grins. “Oh, we’re gonna have so much fun.” He sounds as delighted as Alex feels. Then he reaches for Alex’s caged cock and roughly massages it through his pants, which brings all of Alex’s arousal and desperation back. Just when his legs start getting shaky again, his dom uses his other hand to smack his ass hard.

Alex chokes out a cry and presses his cock harder against his dom’s rubbing hand.

“You need it so bad, don’t you?” his dom asks softly.

“Yes, sir. Please,” Alex chokes out. He loves having his dom tease him for ages, but not during their first time being reunited after their break up.

His dom smacks his ass one more time, then releases him and steps back. “Clothes off and get on the bed. On your back, knees up. Where’s the lube?”

Alex hurries to yank his clothes off with shaking hands. “Bedside table drawer, sir.”

Once Alex is naked, he lies down on the bed, spreading his legs and planting his feet on the mattress. As he watches his dom get undressed, he starts getting emotional again. He’s missed his dom so much! His dom is going to unlock his cage and fuck him and it’s going to be even better than it used to be because his dom knows who Alex is and still wants him and even loves him. Plus, Alex knows his dom’s name now and they can both see each other’s faces. They’re no longer hiding such huge parts of themselves from each other and it’s everything Alex always wanted.

His dom has pulled off his clothes and he’s rummaging around in the drawer and suddenly sucks in a sharp breath.

Alex glances over, curious over what caught his dom’s attention. He’s not worried about his dom finding anything in there. Jeffrey knows almost everything about him and Alex is happy to share anything that Jeffrey might still not know. It’s so nice that Alex is comfortable with his dom rummaging around in any part of his life when he doesn’t have anybody else he can do that with. But Alex is curious over what his dom found and he props himself up on his elbows.

His dom glances at him. “Wanna wear your collar?”

A smile spreads over Alex’s face. “Yes, please.” Again, he decides not to tell his dom that he’d put the collar on while they were separated. That’s sad and Alex doesn’t want anymore sadness tonight. He’s had enough of being sad and crying.

His dom’s eyes are shining as he grabs the collar and lube and climbs on the bed. “I’ll bring the straps and other stuff over tomorrow.”

The mention of their many toys makes Alex shiver again, but he’s more excited about his dom bringing these things to his room. He has a special old chest that his grandpa had given him many years ago which holds some picture albums and other precious things. Keeping the BDSM equipment and toys that means so much to him in there too will be perfect. He wants to discuss all of this with his dom and get his opinion, but his dom is smoothing out the collar and that steals all of Alex’s attention. Staring at the collar in his dom’s hands, Alex’s stomach clenches with excitement.

“Let’s get this back where it belongs,” his dom says and gently wraps it around Alex’s neck.

It feels so nice to have his dom doing it rather than putting it on himself and Alex moans as his dom buckles the soft, black leather around his throat.

Pulling his hands back, his dom stares down at him and slowly lets his eyes travel down his body to his cock, which swells again from his dom’s attention. “You’re so fucking gorgeous,” his dom mumbles, his voice full of heat. “My precious Alex.”

Alex smiles, arousal shivering through him as he lies back down, feeling sexy and loved and submissive under his dom’s heated gaze. His dom sucks in a sharp breath and fists his own cock, which is rapidly hardening. Seeing his dom’s cock, Alex shivers hard and whimpers, not taking his eyes off the thick length being stroked by his dom.

His dom chuckles, his breathing picking up speed. “You want your dom’s cock, don’t you?”

“Yes, please.”

“Fuck,” his dom breathes out. Sliding over until he’s at the head of the bed, he spreads his knees on either side of Alex’s head and turns his head. He tangles his hand in Alex’s hair and that new sensation makes Alex gasp as his hips arch up.

“You like that, huh? No more stupid masks. Now I get to have all of you whenever I want.”

Bending down and keeping that tight, painful grip in Alex’s hair that’s sending jolts of arousal through him, his dom kisses him hard on the lips. “This is gonna be amazing,” his dom whispers, his voice rough as he grins. “Not just today but every other day too.”

Before Alex can get emotional from those words, his dom straights up and guides his cock to Alex’s lips. Eagerly parting them, Alex holds his breath as his dom’s familiar cock slides into his mouth. Moaning at how great it feels, Alex relaxes in his dom’s tight grip on him and breathes slowly through his nose as his dom fucks his mouth.

“My good boy. I missed you so damn much,” his dom mumbles, his voice tight as he slowly thrusts his cock in and out of Alex’s mouth, Alex’s lips stretching around the warm thickness. Then his dom speeds up his thrusts, never going deeper than Alex can handle but still exerting complete control over the situation. His dom starts to pant and his grip on Alex’s hair tightens. “My precious Alex. My precious, gorgeous Alex. You’re amazing.”

Alex is happily floating, everything else having drifted away. It’s unfortunate that his hands and legs aren’t restrained, but his dom’s grip on him and the effortless way his dom is dominating him keeps Alex drifting in this happy, wonderful place he loves so much.

Unfortunately, his dom eventually slows his thrusts and pulls out. Alex’s chin is covered in spit but he whines, wanting his dom’s cock back.

His dom bends down and nuzzles his face. “Hush. I have to stay hard so I can fuck you through the mattress.”

That makes Alex’s frown turn back into a grin.

His dom laughs softly and ruffles his hair as he kisses his cheek hard. “I thought that would turn your frown upside down.”

“It’ll only stay that way if you keep your promise, sir,” Alex mumbles cheekily.

His dom’s eyes flare with heat. “Oh, I like that challenge.”

Knee-walking down the bed, he presses Alex’s knees further apart and takes the red key chain off his neck. Alex is already panting and he eagerly lifts his hips, knowing what that red key means. His dom grabs the padlock and unlocks it before taking it off and gently twisting the cage around Alex’s cock as he slides it off inch by inch.

Alex is so hard that it’s painful and he cries out as pleasure and pain both surge through him. Jesus, he loves everything about this so much. Once his dom has taken the cage and cock ring off, Alex’s cock immediately stiffens fully and he’s shaking and gasping.

His dom grabs his cock and massages the stiff length. “I love how hard and sensitive your cock gets when I take it out.”

Alex wants to say something in response, but his dom doesn’t give him a chance. Grabbing the bottle of lube, he slicks up his fingers and presses Alex’s knees up and rubs his slick fingers over his hole before pressing his fingers in. It burns a bit and together with his throbbing cock, Alex moans loudly, shifting his hips to get his dom’s fingers deeper inside of him.

“That feels good, huh? Having your greedy hole stuffed full?”

“Yes, sir. Fuck. Yes, it does,” Alex gasps, tilting his head back and grabbing fistfuls of the sheets beneath him. Arousal is pulsing through him and his dom twists his fingers before fucking him hard, thrusting his fingers in and out of him as Alex’s body lights up with pleasure. He could probably come just from this and he’s panting and whining up at the ceiling as his dom fucks him hard, Alex’s hole twitching around his fingers.

Unfortunately, his dom abruptly pulls his fingers free and smacks his ass, but it turns out to be for a very good reason. “On your front. Ass up, knees spread. It’s time I prove I keep my promises and if I wait any longer, I’m gonna come way too soon.”

Grinning, Alex eagerly rolls onto his front and pulls his knees up, bracing his forearms on the bed. His cock is hard between his legs and he feels nothing but eagerness as he lifts his ass for his dom, presenting himself to get thoroughly fucked. It’s a very submissive position to put himself into and Alex loves everything about it. What makes it even better is that he knows Jeffrey isn’t judging him for loving it.

His dom smacks his ass twice more, sending waves of arousal through Alex as he cries out. But he’s so turned on now and floating so high that the hits barely sting anymore, which isn’t what he wants. Turning his head to the side, he pleads: “More please, sir.”

Massaging his ass, his dom digs his fingers into the tingling skin that’s starting to sting, but not enough. “More and harder?”

“Yes, sir. Please,” Alex begs.

His lower back is covered in kisses. “Then hang onto the sheets tight.”

Grinning, Alex does as he’s told and braces himself—and his dom doesn’t disappoint. Stinging, hard slaps rain down on his ass and within just a few of them, his ass goes from tingling to that wonderful burning sensation. The pain pushes his arousal higher and Alex closes his eyes, panting and letting out choked cries, his arms shaking as they try to keep holding him up. Then his dom’s cock nudges against his hole and Alex whines desperately as his dom slides right into him, filling him up with that familiar thickness that he’s missed so much.

“Oh, God,” his dom mumbles, squeezing Alex’s ass.

Alex waits, shaking and whining while his dom does a few gentle thrusts.

“Ready?”

Alex nods. “Yes, sir. Please.”

“Just relax. I’m gonna give you exactly what you need, I promise. I’ll take care of everything.”

Alex has time to smile—before his dom proceeds to make him forget who he is, where he is and everything that isn’t related to his ass and cock. Grabbing his hips with both hands, his dom increases the pace of his thrusts. The harder pace lights up Alex’s body and he closes his eyes, moaning and letting out other sounds that don’t even sound like him.

Eventually, his dom releases his hips and slows his thrusts a bit, but Alex is barely aware of it before his dom tangles his hand into Alex’s hair and slowly pulls his head back. The new position bows his back downwards and Alex lets out a choked cry at how submissive it feels. Just imagining what he must look like right now make his cock twitch. Unfortunately, his dom immediately releases his grip in his hair, having misunderstood the sound Alex made.

“That’s no good?”

No, no, no, that’s not what Alex wants. “It—it—it’s very good, sir. Please.”

“Yeah? I need to stabilize you if I’m gonna spank you and fuck you at the same time and I forgot you’re not strapped down.”

Alex wants to explain that he loves having his dom pulling his hair for so many reasons, but his brain can’t string the words together. “Please, sir. Please,” Alex begs, his lips numb. “It’s good. So good.”

“Okay. But you have to tell me slow or stop if your neck hurts too much.”

“I will, sir. I promise. Please, I promise.” Alex needs his dom’s hand doing what it was doing before. He needs—

Thankfully, his dom’s hand tightens in his hair again, pulling his head back as he slowly starts fucking him again and oh, it feels wonderful. Not only is his dom fucking him but the grip in his hair is adding a dull, continuous pain that’s radiating through him and making his body pulse with arousal. Plus, Alex has never felt this submissive before in his entire life. Having the restraints holding him down is amazing, but there’s something more intense about his dom holding him in place with his own hands while he’s fucking him. It’s more clear than ever that Alex is his sub and his only purpose right now is to serve is dom and that’s all Alex ever wanted out of life.

Then his dom interrupts his thoughts by tightening his grip in Alex’s hair and smacking his ass multiple times as he’s fucking him. His ass is already sore and the pain rushes through him, making him cry out. “Oh, fuck...oh, that’s—Jesus...”

“That feels good, huh?” His dom gasps out, landing more stinging blows on Alex’s ass, which is really burning now.

“Your ass is nice and red now. You look so damn beautiful. My good boy. You feel amazing.”

Alex is shaking head to toe, whimpering and crying out as he keeps his eyes closed and floats in this intense fire that’s burning him inside and out as arousal pounds through him. He might be crying, he has no idea. His entire world just consists of his dom’s grip on his hair, his dom’s cock fucking him, his dom’s hand spanking him and his dom’s panting, awed voice.

“My precious Alex. You’re amazing. You’re feeling so good, aren’t you? Fuck, I’ve never felt this good. We’re both back where we belong.”

Alex can only sob in response as his dom fucks him hard, his pelvis smacking into Alex’s burning ass with every thrust. His dom keeps randomly spanking him, the hits solid and stinging on his sensitive ass and Alex has never felt this good in his entire life. What’s making the whole thing perfect is hearing his dom calling him by his name; his real name that his dom loves.

“My good boy,” his dom pants, his voice shaking. “I missed you so damn much. This is amazing. My precious Alex.”

Every word makes Alex’s heart glow brighter and he sobs gratefully, so glad to have all this back.

“I love you so damn much. My precious boy. Being so good for me.”

His dom’s voice is getting more strained and his thrusts are losing their rhythm. His dom is going to come soon and fill Alex with his cum and Alex lets out a sob. “Please, sir.”

“You wanna come?”

Yes, he does, but he wants his dom to come first. “You—I—your cum, sir. Please.”

“I’m gonna come inside you, don’t worry. I’m gonna fill my good boy’s ass with my cum so it’s dripping out of you.”

Twisting his panting lips into a grin, Alex whines happily as he braces his shaking arms as his ass and hair burn...and finally, his dom lets out a low moan and he’s coming, filling Alex’s ass with cum.

His dom gasps and cries out as he keeps coming, thrusting into Alex hard. When he’s done, he slowly releases his grip on Alex’s hair and slides his arms under his sweaty, heaving chest and pulls him up against him. His cock is still buried inside him and some cum trickles down Alex’s thighs, making him gasp as he smiles. He can’t believe how happy he is.

His dom wraps his arms tightly around his chest and kisses his cheek. “Ready to come?”

Alex has been so desperate to come for so long that his hips are shifting back and forth as he shakes in his dom’s arms, his cock aching. Tears are still running down his face and his heart is racing. “Yes, sir. Please.”

His dom reaches up and tangles one hand back into Alex’s hair, which pulls his head back and the renewed pain makes him gasp.

“My gorgeous Alex. You feel so damn good around my cock,” his dom whispers into his ear, still gasping for breath and his hands shaking. Then he slides his other hand down to Alex’s cock and wraps around it, massaging and stroking it hard as he sharply pulls on Alex’s hair.

Alex cries out and his eyes slide half closed as he shakes and pants.

“Let me see you come. I wanna see my good boy come while my cock is still in your ass.”

With his body burning and pulsing with arousal, Alex keeps gasping as his dom works his cock hard until finally, his breath catches and he’s coming harder than he ever has before.

* * *

Jeffrey’s adrenaline keeps pounding through him as he grips Alex’s hair and watches his face shift as he comes, warm cum covering Jeffrey’s hand as he jerks his cock hard. Seeing his sub come without wearing that stupid mask is incredible and Jeffrey’s cock twitches where it’s still buried in him. Jeffrey’s hand that’s wrapped around Alex’s cock is sore from the bare handed spanking, but that’s easy to ignore when his sub is having an intense orgasm in his arms.

Alex’s orgasm is more intense than Jeffrey’s ever seen and he keeps a tight grip on him until he’s done. Eventually, Alex slumps in his arms, his eyes half lidded and tremors still running through his body. He seems out of it and Jeffrey grins, very happy with how things had gone. But his own adrenaline is starting to fade and his exhaustion is slowly catching up to him. Carefully sliding out of his sub’s sticky, warm hole, he releases Alex’s hair and gently lays him down on the bed before collapsing next to him.

But as soon as he’s no longer touching Alex, he’s already missing him and he slides over and drapes himself half on top of him, panting against his sweaty back and slinging his arm around him. Despite being worn out, Jeffrey can’t stop smiling and his heart is so full. The whole scene had been great, but having lost their forced anonymity had added so many new wonderful things that had made the experience even better than any of their previous scenes had been.

Being able to see Alex’s face, hear his real voice and know who Alex really is had made a huge difference. Not to mention that Jeffrey can now be as affectionate and personal with his sub as he wants. It’s also wonderful that Alex knows exactly who Jeffrey is and still loves him as a dom just as much as he did before. Of course, it would be wonderful if Alex loved him the same way Jeffrey loves him, but he’s way too happy to be sad about that right now.

Beneath him, Alex eventually shifts a bit and moans softly, making Jeffrey smile. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” he says against Alex’s skin.

Alex chuckles. “That was the most intense scene we’ve ever done,” he mumbles, sounding exhausted. “Jesus. I think I only have half my brain in my head. And I feel like I’m still missing some limbs, but I don’t really care.”

Grinning, Jeffrey kisses his back and gently rubs his side. His hand is still stinging, but he doesn’t care. “Yeah, that was amazing.”

“I don’t remember ever coming that hard before. Fuck.”

“Me neither. My adrenaline’s never been that high during a scene before.”

Alex chuckles softly. He’s shifting a bit more and Jeffrey’s feeling sufficiently recovered that he’ll be able to get them water without falling flat on his face. Hopefully. Plus, while Alex had told him he wants to do more cuddling, they hadn’t clearly discussed their new aftercare parameters and Jeffrey doesn’t want to make him uncomfortable. Getting them water is a good excuse to put some distance between them and reassess how they’re both feeling now that they’re not floating in outer space anymore.

Kissing Alex’s back again, he pushes himself up. “I’ll go get water.”

Making an unhappy, muffled sound into the sheets, Alex turns his head and frowns at Jeffrey, looking sad. “Can we do a bit more cuddling when you come back?” Then he blinks and looks a bit nervous. “But only if you’re okay with that.”

Jeffrey grins. It seems they’re on the same page. “After we drink water, I’m gonna be glued to you until I have to go.”

That makes Alex’s worried frown turn back into a bright but sleepy smile and Jeffrey can’t help but lean own and kiss his cheek before going to get them water. When he returns with two glasses, he sits next to Alex as he drinks.

Sitting up, Alex groans as he takes the other glass. “Damn, my ass is sore,” he chuckles, taking a sip of water.

Jeffrey laughs. “You’re welcome.”

As he drinks, Jeffrey can’t stop staring at Alex. His hair is sticking up all over the place from Jeffrey pulling on it while fucking him, his eyes are swollen from happy crying and the collar is still wrapped around his neck. He’s relaxed and content, looking like a sub who’s been thoroughly fucked and given everything he wants. It’s much better than Alex’s eyes being swollen from sad crying like they’d been when he was sitting on the Grand Duke’s couch and Jeffrey will do his damn best to make sure he’s never the cause of Alex doing any sad crying again.

Alex drains his glass and smiles at him. “What?”

“You look gorgeous and happy.”

Grinning, Alex hands him his empty glass. “You too. You haven’t stopped smiling since I managed to pry my eyes back open.” Sighing, he lies down on his back and stretches out lazily, moaning happily. “I feel incredible,” he mumbles.

Jeffrey smiles, putting his glass down as his eyes eagerly drift over Alex’s naked body. He looks so relaxed and comfortable, lying naked on the bed wearing only that black leather collar around his neck. Jeffrey can’t believe he gets to see Alex like this. He knows nobody else has ever had this privilege.

Alex sighs happily and yawns. “Can I just give up my title and live right here for the rest of my life? You could come fuck me and spank me and whatever else you want whenever you want.”

Jeffrey laughs. “I wouldn’t have any complaints but the taxpayers might not like it.”

Smiling up at the ceiling, Alex lets out a melodramatic sigh. “Yeah, and Gary might file a harassment claim if he always has to see me naked.”

Sliding over, Jeffrey leans down and rubs his hand over Alex’s chest and kisses it. “I’m not worried about that. I wanna be the only one who gets that privilege so I’d have to switch duties with Gary.” He kisses his way down to Alex’s stomach. “Mrs. Gutierrez wouldn’t like it and neither would Gary but I’d do whatever it takes. Nobody else gets to see my gorgeous sub lying naked on his bed all the time,” he murmurs and shoots Alex a smile. “That’s just how things are.”

Alex laughs, sounding delighted and he reaches down to touch Jeffrey’s face. The gentle touch makes Jeffrey smile as his heart squeezes with joy and he tilts his head to kiss Alex’s hand, staring at him.

He can’t believe he gets to have this. How the hell did he get so lucky? Unfortunately, those thoughts make him remember that he came very close to never having this. And even worse, it was all his fault. He’d almost ruined everything and hurt both of them so much, all because he’d been too caught up in his shock at finding out who his sub is.

Alex frowns at him as he’s stroking Jeffrey’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Jeffrey frowns softly. “I still can’t believe I almost ruined everything.”

Alex’s frown deepens and he sits up, pushing on Jeffrey until he’s lying down, Alex straddles him and stars down at him. “I told you this before but I’ll repeat it a thousand times. Your shock was normal. I would have been shocked too; anybody would have been.”

Jeffrey rubs Alex’s thighs. “I should have talked to you right then, right in the hotel room.”

“It’s easy to look back and feel guilty over the choices you made, but you’re looking back on things with the benefit of knowing how it turned out. Back then, you had no idea how I would react to the whole thing. If things would have been reversed, I would have done the same thing you did, but I don’t know if I would have ever been brave enough to call you to clear the air.” Alex leans down and stares at him intensely. “But you _were_ that brave and you risked everything because you care about me.”

Jeffrey thinks about it and realizes Alex does have a point. He still feels guilty about what he did, but his choices back then had been the cautious ones to take. He had no idea Alex would be as devastated by their break up as Jeffrey was. And it’s true that no matter what Jeffrey had done, he’d taken that first step to call Alex and apologize for what happened.

“You know what else?” Alex asks, raising an eyebrow down at him.

“What?”

“I forgive you and I don’t want you beating yourself up about this for eternity. I wanna move forward and I don’t want your guilt keeping you from coming with me.”

Jeffrey stares at him, marveling at this incredible man who he gets the privilege of loving and calling his sub and his friend. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

Alex smiles, his eyes shining. “Well, that makes two of us.”

Taking a deep breath, Jeffrey squeezes Alex’s thighs. He still feels conflicted about it but he’s hoping his guilt will eventually fade with time. “You know what would help me move forward?”

“What?”

“Getting distracted by my sub.”

Grinning, Alex wiggles on his lap eagerly. “I can definitely do that.”

Jeffrey chuckles. “But fair warning; I probably won’t be able to get it up again tonight. Not all of us are blessed with cocks that just need twenty minutes of napping to recharge.”

Alex laughs and lets his eyes drift down Jeffrey’s chest. “Don’t worry, there are lots of other parts of you that I’ve been wanting to explore and my exploring will keep you distracted so everybody wins.”

Smiling as his heart glows, Jeffrey pats Alex’s thighs. “You can start whenever you want.”

“Any places you don’t want me to touch?”

“Nope, just be gentle with my cock. It doesn’t like being disturbed when its napping. It’s a little worn out.”

Alex laughs, sounding delighted by Jeffrey’s terrible humor, which is another example of how wonderful his Alex is. “Just a little? According to my sore ass, your cock should be exhausted.”

That reminds Jeffrey that he’s forgotten an important part of their aftercare and he frowns. “Shit, I should get you moisturizer.”

Alex shakes his head. “I’m fine. If I change my mind, I’ll go get it. Just relax and let me take care of you.”

Jeffrey can absolutely do that and he sprawls out in the same position Alex had been in earlier.

Humming happily, Alex bends down and rubs his noise against Jeffrey’s neck, leaving soft, lingering kisses all over his skin. “I’ve been wanting this for so long,” he murmurs in between kisses.

Reaching up, Jeffrey gently tangles his hand in Alex’s hair as he tilts his head back to give him more room to explore. “Me too.”

Alex nuzzles and kisses his neck, moving from one side to the other, taking his time. Slowly, he moves down to Jeffrey’s chest and rubs his thumbs over his nipples before gently sucking on them.

Jeffrey lets out a soft sigh as mild tingles of arousal spread through him, but Alex isn’t doing it to rile him up, he’s just exploring. Alex makes a happy sound at Jeffrey’s sigh and lightly licks his nipples until they’re stiff and getting sensitive, but then he moves on, kissing and touching his way down to his stomach and the rest of him but skipping over his tired, over sensitive cock.

It makes Jeffrey feel so loved, and seeing Alex’s smile the whole time makes it even better. Whenever Alex is close enough, Jeffrey runs a hand through his hair or touches his face. The whole thing feels warm and more intimate than anything they’ve ever done and Jeffrey loves it.

When Alex has kissed his way back up to Jeffrey’s neck, he leans over him and braces his forearms on either side of Jeffrey’s head on the pillow. They’re both smiling at each other, probably looking ridiculous to anybody else. Seeing Alex smile is making Jeffrey smile and he’s sure it’s the same for Alex. Putting his hands on Alex’s back, he rubs his hands up and down his warm skin, loving how Alex’s eyes are shining and how happy he looks. “I love you,” Jeffrey whispers.

Alex’s eyes get very soft. “If things keep going like this, I’m gonna be saying that back to you soon.”

Jeffrey grins. “I’m just happy you’re looking forward to it.”

Alex’s grin matches his, but his eyes keep going down to Jeffrey’s lips. Realizing what that means, heat coils in Jeffrey’s gut and he runs his hands up to Alex’s neck and rubs the leather collar buckled around his throat before sliding his hands up to Alex’s face. “I’m wondering if you’re in the mood to kiss me.”

Alex laughs, but it sounds strained and his eyes are huge. “I’ve been in the mood for months.”

Excitement rushes through Jeffrey. “Me too.”

For a moment, Alex looks awed, as if Jeffrey’s about to make his dreams come true, which is incredible because Alex is about to make Jeffrey’s dreams come true. Then Alex draws in a sharp breath, leans down and gently brushes his lips over Jeffrey’s. His lips are so warm and soft but they’re gone so fast.

Pulling back a bit, Alex searches his face as if he’s scared Jeffrey will change his mind.

Grinning, Jeffrey tightens his grip on Alex’s face and leans up, catching his lips in a kiss. He puts more pressure into it and lingers a little and that seems to make Alex lose those last traces of hesitation because he moans softly and slightly parts his lips to kiss Jeffrey back.

Jeffrey slowly sinks back into Alex’s pillow and Alex follows him, kissing him softly. When he gently swipes his tongue against Jeffrey’s lips, he parts them and Alex slips his tongue into his mouth, rubbing against Jeffrey’s.

It’s soft and fantastic. Tangling his hands into Alex’s hair, Jeffrey tilts his head and keeps kissing him, wanting to stay here forever. It’s as amazing as he always dreamed it would be, even if he’s too tired for the kisses to lead to anything more.

Occasionally, Alex pulls back and grins down at him and Jeffrey always finds himself grinning back at him, loving how he feels and how that’s mirrored on Alex’s face. Having Alex’s warm skin pressed against his and seeing his face without the mask every time he opens his eyes is incredible.

“I can’t believe I’m not dreaming,” he whispers.

Alex smiles and kisses him before rubbing their noses together. “Me too.”

“You realize I’m never letting you go again, right?” That’s kind of a lie. Obviously, if Alex ever wanted to break things off, Jeffrey would let him go. But he’s going to do everything possible to keep Alex happy.

Chuckling softly, Alex kisses him again. “That’s good because I’m planning on clinging to you until the day I die.”

Grinning, Jeffrey slides his hand to Alex’s face and rubs his cheek with his thumb. “That’ll make engagements interesting.”

“Uh huh. Not to mention unproductive. You know, I think it’s best that you stay with grandpa and I stay with Gary. We’d never get anything done otherwise.”

Laughing, Jeffrey kisses him. “Nope. People would complain.”

“Yes. Stupid people.”

“They are. But they’d also be right.”

Alex groans and lies down on Jeffrey, nuzzling his chest. “True.”

Jeffrey wraps his arms around him and rubs Alex’s back. He still can’t believe he got his sub back, his friend back and best of all, he got Alex back.


	11. Chapter 11

They laze around in bed for another hour and neither of them can stop touching the other and exploring all the parts of each other that had previously been off limits. They keep staring at each other in between kisses, marveling at being able to see each other’s faces and know exactly who they both are.

At one point, Alex props his chin on Jeffrey’s chest and stares at him for a long moment, a smile on his lips. Jeffrey thinks he’s still marveling over situation the same way Jeffrey is, but then Alex shifts his jaw and presses his lips together.

Jeffrey frowns. “What?”

“You’re really alright with all this?”

Snorting, Jeffrey grins. “I think the evidence is very clear.”

Alex smiles, but it’s a strained smile. “I’m serious. If there’s even a small part of that feels weird about it, please tell me. It would kill me if we wake up tomorrow and you start freaking out because you’re involved with a P rince .”

Jeffrey smiles and relaxes, because Alex’s worries are misplaced. “I’ve had two weeks to freak out and I’m all done. Besides, I’m not really involved with a member of the Royal Family, am I? Just like you’re not really involved with a member of the Royal Staff, are you? You’re just Alex and I’m just Jeffrey. We happen to work together in opposite roles.”

Alex is staring at him, looking cautious. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Of course I am.” He really is, but Alex’s preoccupation with the topic leads Jeffrey to believe that Alex is the one who isn’t so sure about the situation. “But I’m getting the impression that you’re not.”

While his chin digs into Jeffrey’s chest, Alex makes a face. “I’ve never had a true friend before. Anybody who isn’t related to me has always treated me like a Prince. Sometimes they want to take advantage of me, sometimes they’re in awe of me, sometimes they’re jealous of me, but in every situation, the person wasn’t really interested in me as a person.”

Jeffrey smiles softly. “I promise that I’m not one of those people. I’m in awe of you, yes. But I’m in awe of Prince you and normal Alex you. You’re an incredible person, no matter what you’re doing.”

Alex looks doubtful. “You’ve dedicated your entire life to serving the monarchy.”

“Yes, but I’m capable of separating your public persona from your private one. Like I told you; I’m in love with Alex, not Prince Alexander. My respect for you as a Prince is the same as I have for the Grand Duke and any other member of the monarchy. When we’re in our professional roles, I’m your servant and that role is a privilege. But when we’re not working, I’m leaving all that behind.” Jeffrey smiles at Alex. “I think I’m actually very lucky. I’m accustomed to seeing you when you’re being Alex versus when you’re being a Prince. If I were a random member of the public, I might have a harder time not seeing the crown on your head. But I’ve worked for the monarchy long enough that I know you’re all just people who happen to be born into a privileged life with an enormous duty to fulfill.”

Slowly, Alex smiles. “You’re not eager to become a Wallace, huh?”

Jeffrey laughs. “No offense, but I’ll be very happy never being a Wallace. I’ll leave that stress to you.”

Letting out a soft sigh, Alex puts his head down and relaxes against his chest, seemingly reassured that Jeffrey wasn’t lying. Maybe a part of him is still doubtful that Jeffrey truly isn’t interested in taking advantage of his relationship with Alex and that he’s capable of separating their professional and personal lives. The best way to prove him wrong is through actions and Jeffrey knows h e can do that.

But on that note, Jeffrey thinks now is a good time to talk about the logistics regarding their situation. As much as he’s enjoying lying here with Alex, they need to remember that outside Alex’s room, there’s a whole other reality that they’ll have to continue successfully navigating if they want this to work. “So speaking of keeping our professional and personal lives separate...”

Alex hums into his chest.

“...I think we need to talk about how we’re going to do this, especially if we’re both committed to keeping things private.”

Maybe sensing the shift in the conversation, Alex rolls off Jeffrey’s chest and props himself up on his elbows, looking serious. “I agree. We’ll have to deal with rumors at some point, but I’d prefer to push that off as long as possible.”

Jeffrey nods. “Me too.”

Then Alex makes a face. “When do you think you should go back down to your room? I think it’ll be too suspicious if you go from here directly to breakfast. The junior housekeepers will notice your bed wasn’t slept in.”

“I agree.” He takes a breath, knowing what he should say. “The sensible thing to do would be for me to go back downstairs now or at least before bed time.”

Alex’s face falls, which matches how much Jeffrey hates that plan. “That would be sensible.”

Jeffrey stares at him. “Please tell me you hate that plan as much as I do.”

A relieved smile appears on Alex’s face. “I do. Please tell me you have a better idea. One that involves you staying in my bed as long as possible without stumbling across Gary tomorrow morning.”

Chuckling, Jeffrey leans up and gives Alex a lingering kiss before lying back down. While going back to his room soon would be the wise thing to do, he wants to have the best of both worlds and that means pushing the boundaries of what’s safe just a little bit. “If we set an early alarm, let’s say around 4:30, I can sneak back downstairs and spend the rest of the night in my bed.”

Alex grins. “I like that plan. The only people wandering around at that time of the morning are the guards—”

“And we’ll check the security feeds before I go downstairs. When the coast is clear, I’ll head to the nearest stairwell and I’ll be back in my room within 30 seconds.”

The moment the words leave his lips, Jeffrey knows this is what he wants to do. It might be more risky than sneaking out of Alex’s room the night before—because there’s no plausible explanation for why Jeffrey would be in Alex’s room at 4:30 in the morning—but he wants to spend as much time as possible in Alex’s bed.

Leaning down, Alex nuzzles his face and kisses his forehead. “I like that plan. Thank you for taking a stupid risk just to spend more time with me.”

Jeffrey chuckles and wraps his arms around Alex’s waist, pulling him back on top of him. As his sub’s warm weight settles back on him and presses him deeper into the softness of Alex’s bed, Jeffrey rubs his chin over Alex’s hair and smiles. “It’s not really you who’s my main motivation for wanting to stay here. Your bed’s a lot more comfortable than mine. Not to mention it’s twice as big.”

Alex laughs. “I’d sleep on the damn floor if it meant spending more time with you.”

His heart swells at those words and Jeffrey tightens his arms around him. “Luckily, I like your bed even more when you’re in it so you being on the floor isn’t helpful. Well, it might be helpful in certain situations. But not when I’m sleeping.”

Chuckling softly, Alex sighs softly and goes limp against him, content and relaxed. “Good to know. Speaking of those certain situations...what are your thoughts about my cage?”

Jeffrey slides one hand up Alex’s back and rubs the leather collar still buckled around his neck. It’s always amazing how easily the two of them switch back and forth between their roles as friends, lovers and BDSM partners. It still remains to be seen how well they can switch between their personal and professional roles, but the ease with which they shift from one role to the other already is a good sign. “You know I love it when you wear the cage, but it’s always been and will always be your choice.”

“I really love wearing it,” Alex mumbles against his chest.

“I know you do. Do you wanna stick to our normal schedule and only do scenes on Sunday?” Jeffrey hates the idea of only getting to have sex with his sub once a week, but he’s willing to negotiate if it’s something Alex wants.

Thankfully, Alex makes a displeased noise. “Not really. Do you?”

Jeffrey snorts. “Hell no. It’s gonna be hard enough keeping my hands off you when we’re working.”

“Good.” There’s a smile in Alex’s voice, but that fades to be replaced with a hint of tension again. “But I really do love wearing the cage. I love it when you tease me and control when I get to come and when I don’t.”

A plan is forming in Jeffrey’s head. “Do you wanna keep wearing the cage all week, even if I fuck you during the week? You’d get really riled up but you wouldn’t be able to come.”

Alex shivers hard and his breath catches and thinking about how hot that would makes arousal simmer through Jeffrey too as he hooks his fingers in the buckle on Alex’s collar and tugs a bit.

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out. “I’d really like that.”

“You want me to fuck you and spank that gorgeous ass and you’d be so desperate to come, but I wouldn’t let you. I’d take my time and fuck you as long as I want. Then I’d come and you’d still be hard and aching in your cage.” His arousal slams through him and his cock stiffens as he tightens his grip on his sub, who’s panting wet, warm breaths against his chest. “I’d use your ass whenever I want and fuck you wherever I want. You’d be so damn happy serving your dom, wouldn’t you? You’d be my good boy, my precious Alex and you’d earn the right to come on Sundays.” 

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out, the words mumbled and faint. He’s slipping under and his cock is stiffening against Jeffrey’s and it’s all from a few words. Oh, Jeffrey’s so glad he’d found his courage and called Alex.

Grinning as adrenaline pounds through him and the need to fuck his sub again builds, Jeffrey rolls them over and grabs Alex’s wrists, pinning them to the bed. His sub immediately spreads his legs, moaning as he lifts his knees and exposes himself to his dom, putting himself in a submissive position without having to be told; Alex’s natural submissive tendencies rising to the surface as easily as they always do.

His  sub’s  eagerness and w illing display of vulnerability makes Jeffrey’s breath catch and his heart is pounding as he stares down at Alex.  Nobody else has ever seen Alex Wallace like this. Jeffrey is the only person in the world who gets to witness Alex indulging this part of himself and he’s doing it without any hesitation; his trust in Jeffrey clear and it’s making Jeffrey even more determined to be the best dom he possible can be. He’s going to take care of Alex and give him everything he wants and needs as long as Alex will let him.  “I’m gonna fuck you again and make you come,” he whispers, his voice shaking. “I’m gonna rub your nipples, make them nice and hard and then I’m gonna pinch them until they ache while I fuck you.”

Alex moans, his eyes huge and dark with arousal as he pants up at him, that familiar half-drunk smile on his face.

“You’re gonna come so damn hard and then I’m gonna take you into the bathroom and fuck you against the counter and in the shower while I keep playing with your nipples. They’re gonna be so damn sore; maybe you’ll even cry but I’ll keep playing with them cause I know you love it. We’ll see if you can come one more time before I come. It might take a while. Then I’m gonna get my gorgeous boy all clean and lock the cage on you.”

His eyes shining, Alex eagerly pulls his knees higher. “Please, sir.”

Grinning down at him, Jeffrey leans down and kisses him hard. “You’re excited, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out. “Please. Please, please, please.”

Not needing to be told twice, Jeffrey lunges for the lube so he can put their plans into action. After getting lubed up and sliding into his sub’s warm, loose hole with a choked moan, Jeffrey clutches Alex’s legs and fucks him hard.

Thank God tomorrow is Sunday and they both have the day off because Jeffrey doubts either of them will get any sleep until his 4:30 deadline.

* * *

The beeping of an alarm pulls Alex out of a deep sleep and he groans softly as he opens his eyes. He’s exhausted but as soon as he looks across the bed and sees Jeffrey sleeping next to him, a sleepy smile spreads over his face.

His dom’s hair is sticking up all over the place and it’s clear how tired he is because he doesn’t stir, despite the insistent ringing of the alarm.

Alex is still wearing his collar and his beloved cage is digging into him as he lies sprawled out on his front. His ass is still sore and every tiny shifts makes the blanket on top of him rub against his sensitive ass. All of it makes his smile grow even bigger, despite how hard it is to keep his eyes open.

It feels so right to have Jeffrey sleeping next to him. His face is soft as he snores quietly and there’s no stupid mask in the way. There will never be a mask on his dom ever again. Alex will never have to wait a whole week to see his dom. He gets to listen to his dom’s real voice every single day. Best of all, Alex finally gets to touch and kiss and hold his dom as much as he wants and Jeffrey gets to do the same to him.

Even though they’d spent hours kissing and fucking the night before, Alex can’t help but shift across the mattress until he’s close enough to rub Jeffrey’s back and cover his face in soft kisses. As Jeffrey groans and slowly opens his eyes, Alex grins as he keeps kissing him, taking his time. He still can’t believe this is real.

“Morning,” Jeffrey mumbles, a tired smile curling his lips.

“Good morning,” Alex whispers, brushing a kiss over his lips.

That makes Jeffrey’s smile grow and he returns the kiss, keeping things chaste and slow.

But as the minutes slip by, Alex knows they need to follow their new plan if they want to keep things on track. Letting out an unhappy sound, he kisses Jeffrey one more time before pulling back. “You should go.”

“Hmm.” Jeffrey makes a face. “I really don’t want to.”

A warm feeling spreads through him and Alex smiles. “I know, but the faster you go, the faster you’ll get to come back.”

Jeffrey snorts. “Not really. I have to wait until you’re done breakfast and the housekeepers are done with your room.”

Chuckling, Alex touches Jeffrey’s face, rubbing his cheek with him thumb. “True. But still.”

Letting out a loud sigh, Jeffrey slowly sits up. “Yeah, you’re right.” He lets out a big yawn and stretches. “M an , I’m tired.”

Sprawling out on his back, Alex smiles up at him, feeling tired too. “We still have time to sleep before breakfast. And once you’re back, we can have a nap.”

Groaning, Jeffrey throws the covers off himself and slowly stands up. “If you think we’re gonna nap as soon as I’m back, you’re crazy.”

Laughing, Alex stretches as he lets his eyes drift up and down his dom’s body while Jeffrey wanders around, finding his clothes and slowly pulling them on. Already, his bed feels lonelier and it’s a struggle not to beg Jeffrey to come back and cuddle for a few more minutes. There’s no doubt his dom would do it, but they need to follow their plan.

Jeffrey pads out into the living room and when he comes back, he’s dressed in his uniform and fixing his bowtie. Unlike yesterday, seeing him wearing the stiff red jacket doesn’t worry Alex. They’ll make this work.

Fiddling with his white gloves, Jeffrey pauses and his eyes drift over to Alex, staring at him hungrily. Seeing that look on his face instantly makes arousal coil in Alex’s stomach and he kicks the covers off himself, staring at him with a pathetic look on his face, but he can’t help it.

Groaning, Jeffrey stuffs his gloves into his pocket and hurries back to the bed, kneeling on it and bending over Alex, grabbing his hair in a tight grip as he kisses him hard.

The sharp pain makes Alex gasp and his cock instantly reacts, swelling within its cage. He eagerly kisses his dom back and grabs his face, wanting to keep him here as long as possible.

“Fuck, I can’t believe what you do to me,” Jeffrey mumbles against his lips, his voice shaking. “I literally wanna spend the rest of my life here with you. Fuck my job, fuck yours—I wanna stay right here.”

Alex moans at the heat in his dom’s voice. “I have no objections,” he whispers.

Jeffrey chuckles and gives him another h ard kiss before pulling back. “You might not have objections, but I can think of a few people who would. But I’m gonna make damn sure you spend every second thinking about me until I get back.”

Knowing what that means, Alex eagerly parts his legs and his dom cups his balls with one hand and wraps the other around the cage. Instantly, his arousal shoots higher and Alex throws his head back as he moans and lifts his hips. His dom squeezes his balls and rubs his thumb over the exposed parts of his cock head, which is swollen and pressing against the tip of the cage.

His cage squeezes him tightly and the pain makes his arousal pulse through him as his cock throbs from being confined. Knowing his dom won’t let him come makes it even better and Alex pants and cries out as he thrusts his hips against his dom’s grip.

“Fuck,” his dom breathes out, his voice shaking even harder.

Glancing over at him, Alex sees the bulge in his dom’s pants and his hole twitches, desperate for his dom to fuck him one more time before he leaves. “Please sir. Please fuck me. Just one more time. Please. I need it so bad.”

Moaning, his dom squeezes his eyes shut, but then he slowly releases Alex’s cock and straddles him, planting his forearms on either side of Alex’s head and softly kissing his face.

Alex is shaking hard from arousal and his dom isn’t any better, but every time Alex whispers a ‘please’, his dom softly kisses the words from his lips. “Shh...take deep breaths. My good boy. I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry. I know you wanted me to, but I shouldn’t have. I’m so fucking crazy about you that I can’t keep my hands off you, but I’ll do better, I promise. Shh...breathe.”

Whining, Alex closes his eyes, his heart sinking now that it’s clear his dom won’t fuck him. Slowly, he obeys his dom’s orders and slows his breathing while his dom keeps whispering to him and kissing him softly.

Gradually, his arousal cools to a manageable level and although his cock is still hard and aching in the cage, Alex no longer thinks this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. It’s actually a little embarrassing at how needy he got. Jeffrey will only be gone for a few hours and they’ll get to spend most of the day together.

Pulling back, Jeffrey stares at him and a small frown appears on his face. “What’s with that look? You okay? If you still want me to fuck you, I will. Just say the word.”

Alex makes a face, rubbing his hands over Jeffrey’s black pants. “No, I’m fine. I shouldn’t have made such a fuss.”

Jeffrey’s frown deepens and he kisses him hard before resting his forehead against Alex’s. “Don’t. I shouldn’t have gotten you riled up right before I have to leave. You’ve been suffering without your dom for weeks and it’s gonna take a while for things to go back to normal.” Jeffrey’s eyes look a bit sad and he sighs softly. “I’m really so damn sorry,” he whispers.

Alex slides his arms around Jeffrey’s red jacket and tilts his head to kiss him. “Stop it. You freaked out but once you got past it, you went right back to taking care of me and that’s what you’re going to keep doing. But yeah...I did miss you a lot and I didn’t realize how needy I’d be. It’s not fair to make you deal with that so I’ll—”

“Now you stop it,” Jeffrey says, pulling back and staring down at him. “I love you and I love taking care of you. If you think it’s a problem that you’re desperate for me to touch you and fuck you, then I gotta tell you—you don’t know what problems actually are, Alexander Wallace.”

Alex chuckles, his worries fading. The combination of hearing Jeffrey say he loves him and also calling him his full name makes his heart skip a beat, never mind everything else Jeffrey had said. He’s never felt this happy before in his entire life. Grinning up at Jeffrey, he leans up and Jeffrey meets him halfway for another lingering kiss.

“Mmm...” Jeffrey moans before pulling back. “But now I really gotta go.”

Sighing softly, Alex nods and releases him as Jeffrey slowly climbs off him. “You’ll check the cameras before you go?”

Jeffrey grabs his work phone off the bedside table and waves it at him. “Yeah, don’t worry. You go back to sleep and get plenty of rest and eat all of your breakfast. When I’m back, I’m gonna fuck you on every surface in your rooms.” Then Jeffrey pauses and frowns. “Well, every washable surface.”

Alex laughs, delight and anticipation making heat simmer through him again. “I’ll try not walking straight into a wall or choking on my food while I’m waiting.”

Pulling his gloves on, Jeffrey grins down at him. “You better. I expect my good boy to be on his best behavior if he’s going to get fucked and spanked for hours.”

Groaning, Alex throws him a cheeky grin. “Promises, promises.”

Jeffrey raises an eyebrow. “You’ll be fighting back tears when you’re sitting in the car on your way to engagements tomorrow, I promise. Every time you move, you’re gonna think about me.”

It’s amazing that Jeffrey’s standing there, looking every inch the subservient butler who has dedicated his life to serving Alex and his family, while he’s also teasing Alex about all the ways he’s going to dominate him. It’s a perfect mix.

Throwing him a wink, Jeffrey turns and heads for the bedroom door. “Be my good boy, okay?”

Alex smiles. “Always, sir,” he calls after him before Jeffrey disappears.

* * *

Adrenaline keeps him hyped up as Jeffrey sneaks into the hallway and rushes for the nearest hidden stairwell that will bring him downstairs. Thank God all senior staff members have access to the palace security cameras on their phones. In general, the security guards prefer to do their patrolling on foot rather than staring at the cameras and they tend to focus more on the perimeter of the palace than what’s going on inside so Jeffrey thinks the chances of them catching him sneaking out of Alex’s room are slim.

But once he’s safe in his room, his adrenaline deserts him and exhaustion takes over again. Yesterday had been such a whirlwind of emotion and that intensity hadn’t stopped until a few hours ago and his body is telling him he needs more sleep. He manages to take off his clothes and send Alex a quick text that he got back to his room okay, then he’s collapsing in bed for a few more hours of sleep before he gets to go back to his sub.

* * *

A few hours later, Jeffrey has finished eating breakfast and he’s back in his room, sitting on his bed and eagerly staring at his phone as he waits for Alex to give him the all clear. To make the time pass faster, he’d thrown their BDSM gear into a bag, along with a change of clothes and now he’s just waiting for that text.

Once it comes, a smile spreads over his face as his heart leaps with excitement and he flips through the camera views on his phone with shaking hands to make sure the coast is clear. To his surprise, Alex sends him another text, which is just a string of numbers.

Frowning, Jeffrey sends back a bunch of question marks, not understanding. But Alex’s single word reply of ‘code’ makes Jeffrey’s frown disappear and that warm feeling spread in his chest again.

“You’re amazing,” Jeffrey mumbles, sending a happy face as a reply.

The code Alex had sent will allow Jeffrey to enter his quarters without needing the door to be opened. All senior staff members know the codes for the person they’re assigned to and everybody guards the codes very closely. Being able to enter somebody’s living space without waiting for permission is a privilege and having Alex tell him the code at this point in their relationship demonstrates how much he trusts him.

He can’t keep the grin off his face as his heart races and he frantically checks the camera views again. When he’s determined that his path is clear, he grabs his bag and discreetly makes his way out of his room and upstairs, trying to seem casual as he goes.

Once he’s back at Alex’s room, he quickly keys the code into the number pad next to the door. There’s a quiet click and Jeffrey grins as he pushes open the door and slips inside, shutting it behind him.

To his surprise, Alex is standing by the table, casually leaning against it, his eyes sparkling as he grins over at him. “You like having the code, huh?”

Jeffrey laughs as he drops his bag to the floor. “You have no idea what that means to me.”

“Get over here and kiss me. You haven’t kissed me in about 5 hours and that’s way too long.”

Grinning, Jeffrey hurries over to him, pulling his white gloves off and stuffing them into his pocket. As soon as he’s close enough, he grabs Alex’s face and kisses him hard as Alex winds his arms around his back and clutches his red jacket and moans into the kiss.

“I can’t believe how much I missed you,” Jeffrey mumbles in between kisses. “It felt like 5 years, not 5 hours.”

Alex laughs and kisses him hard. “I tried to sleep but I couldn’t.”

“Your sore ass and the cage kept distracting you, huh?”

“That and thinking about what you were going to do once you came back.”

Smiling, Jeffrey presses his forehead against Alex’s and slides his hands to Alex’s ass, pressing their groins together. The stiff metal of the cage is immediately noticeable and Jeffrey sucks in a sharp breath as his cock twitches and arousal coils in his stomach. “My precious Alex. Keeping my present nicely wrapped up.”

Alex sucks in a sharp breath and eagerly thrusts against Jeffrey’s cock, rubbing the cage against him. It doesn’t even matter that they’re both still wearing pants.

Moaning softly, Jeffrey tightens his grip on Alex’s ass, which makes Alex gasp loudly. Kissing him hard, Jeffrey pulls back a bit and shifts to press his thigh against the cage, squeezing his ass. “It’s Sunday. Technically, you don’t have to keep the cage on today. It’s up to you.”

But Alex immediately shakes his head, his eyes dark with arousal. “I got my reward yesterday, sir.”

Jeffrey grins. “You’re gonna be my good boy for the rest of the week, huh? Wait until next Sunday to get off?”

A joyful smile spreads over Alex’s face as his eyes flare with heat. “Yes, sir. Please,” he whispers, his voice shaking.

The whole thing is so hot that arousal slams through Jeffrey and his cock stiffens, pressing against his pants as he kisses Alex again. Adrenaline is flooding through him and Jeffrey starts shaking. It’s ridiculous because they’d spent all night fucking, but it’s clear that he’ll never get enough of this amazing man. “You have the ability to drive me crazy in seconds, you know that?”

Alex laughs. “We have that in common.”

“Tell me what you want,” Jeffrey whispers, his voice trembling.

“Anything you want, sir. Anything.”

What Jeffrey wants is to fuck his sub right here and right now. The thought of fucking Alex against the table instantly makes his cock twitch, but he knows how to make the experience even better.  He pulls back and takes a few deep breaths. He wants to make this amazing for both of them, so he needs to stay in control. “Clothes off.”

Alex leaps into action and pulls his clothes off, carefully draping everything on a nearby chair while Jeffrey does the same. It feels really strange to be standing naked in the living room amid the old fashioned, ornate furniture and a part of Jeffrey can’t believe he’s naked in Prince Alexander Wallace’s living room but he quickly pushes those thoughts aside before they can turn the situation strange. The situation isn’t strange. Jeffrey isn’t working right now and Alex has the right to get fucked in his own living room.

Once his sub is naked, he stands at attention in the exact same posture that Jeffrey will stand when he watches Alex play cards with the Grand Duke next Saturday. But again, Jeffrey doesn’t let himself dwell on how strange the situation is because Alex has a bright smile on his face, his cock is stiff inside his cage and he’s shaking from excitement.

Seeing his sub’s joy written all over his face makes Jeffrey’s own excitement come back and he bends over his bag to dig out the wrist cuffs and clips. “I really missed using these so I think it’s time they come back out to play.”

Alex moans softly and his eyes widen with eagerness but he stays standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

Jeffrey’s about to order Alex to turn around and bend over the table...but it doesn’t sit right with him. It’s one thing to be having sex in a room where dozens of other members of the Royalty have lived over hundreds of years—they probably had sex in this room too—but Jeffrey has too much respect for the old furniture and the history that they’re infused with. Forcing himself to disregard that will only be a distraction. “Wait here.”

He  drops the cuffs and  hurries to the bathroom and grabs one of the towels the junior housekeeper had left for Alex. Once he’s back in the living room, he spreads the towel over the table. Standing back, Jeffrey decides that’ll be sufficient. Now the table won’t be impacted by their activities and Jeffrey won’t be distracted. Excellent.

Alex lets out a shaky chuckle. “Why am I not surprised you did that?”

Jeffrey grins. “Because you know me and what I’m like.”

His sub keeps chuckling and that just won’t do so Jeffrey grabs him, spins him around and pushes him face down into the towel covering the table’s surface. Reaching between Alex’s legs, Jeffrey grabs his tight balls and the cage and roughly massages them, which instantly makes Alex cry out as his legs twitch.

Grinning, Jeffrey releases the cage and keeps squeezing his balls while he smacks Alex’s ass a few times, landing stinging blows. The unexpected intensity has the desired effect and Alex instantly turns into a panting, whimpering mess as he rests the side of his face against the towel; his eyes half lidded and his lips parted. To Jeffrey’s delight, Alex keeps his hands clasped behind his back, his knuckles white from his hard grip but refusing to change position because he wants to follow his dom’s orders.

Jeffrey lands a few more stinging slaps on his sub’s sensitive ass. The skin quickly warms and gets pink, which is great but not nearly enough.  He alternates pinching and rubbing his sub’s ass as he reaches down and plays with his swollen cock in the stiff cage and thinks about what he wants to do to his sub. “I’m gonna get the wrist cuffs and put them on you. Then I’m gonna get your collar from the bedroom and put that on you too.”

Alex moans loudly as he pants against the towel.

“When you’re wearing all your pretty things, I’m gonna use the paddle on your ass. We have all day, so it’s gonna be a long spanking.”

“Please, sir,” Alex breathes out, shaking head to toe.

Smiling, Jeffrey’s heart is overflowing with love. Stepping around the table, he bends down and brushes soft kisses over Alex’s face. “I love you so damn much and I’m gonna make every second of this amazing, I promise. You’re gonna be my good boy, won’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex whispers. “I promise.”

Nuzzling Alex’s face, Jeffrey grins, shaking from emotion. “You’re gonna serve your dom so well, won’t you? I’m gonna spank you as hard and long as I want and make your ass so damn sensitive you’re gonna feel it for the rest of the week. Then I’m gonna fuck you and fill you up with my cum. But you’re not gonna come because you won’t have earned it yet. You’ll have to keep working hard to earn the right to come, won’t you?”

That bright smile spreads over Alex’s face as he trembles. “Yes, sir. I’m gonna be your good boy, I promise.”

Smiling, Jeffrey covers his sub’s face in more kisses. “My precious Alex. I’m gonna make you so happy.”

Then Jeffrey’s cock reminds him that he really wants to fuck his sub, which means it’s time to put his plan into action. Standing up, he rushes back to his bag and pulls out the wrist cuffs and paddle. After putting the wrist cuffs on Alex, he deliberately puts the paddle on Alex’s back, listening to him moaning loudly as he feels the soft fuzz against his skin.

Grinning, Jeffrey leaves the paddle where it and hurries to the bedroom for Alex’s collar.


	12. Chapter 12

Over the next week, they gradually get accustomed to their new routine and learn to deal with the minor inconveniences and frustrations that come with it. While it’s wonderful that they get to spend time together during the week, it frustrates both of them that Jeffrey has to constantly sneak in and out of Alex’s room and they always have to keep an eye on the time so Jeffrey can leave before any other staff member comes to see Alex. Their professional lives also force them to spend more time apart than they’d like, but Alex thinks that’s a good thing. Sometimes they can spend the evening together but sometimes they’re preparing for engagements and that always has to be the top priority.

Alex had been a little worried how their dynamic would change once the work week starts, but when he passes Jeffrey in the hallway on his way to his afternoon engagement, Jeffrey greets him with the same head bow and ‘Good afternoon, sir’ as he’s always done. Once Alex is in the car and heading towards his engagement, his phone vibrates with an incoming message; Jeffrey wishing him luck on the engagement. It’s so perfectly normal and fits so well into his life that it makes Alex smile. It’s really a dream come true that he’s found someone who truly accepts all aspects of his life and understands how to deal with the various roles he has to fulfill.

* * *

A week later, Alex’s day involves a joint engagement that he attends with two of his cousins and his grandpa. It had been decided that Jeffrey and one of his cousin’s butlers would accompany them, which means Jeffrey spends several hours following along behind Alex and his grandpa and quietly attending to them without either of them having to say a word. The entire time, Jeffrey is a silent shadow in the background, fulfilling his duties perfectly, all while wearing the cage key around in his neck, hidden beneath his uniform and Alex walks around, smiling and shaking hands while constantly being aware of the heavy cage that’s locked around his cock.

After spending the entire day with Jeffrey serving Alex, they easily switch roles once they’re together in Alex’s bedroom. The man who had bowed to him, called him ‘sir’ and obeyed every order throughout the day is now sitting on Alex’s bed and leaning against the headboard, wearing comfortable sweatpants while Alex is naked and lying across his lap with his hands cuffed behind his back.

This is one of his favorite positions to be in and Alex loves spending hours just lying on his dom’s lap, floating in that delicious haze and drifting in and out of sleep while Jeffrey watches TV and plays with his ass. Being in such a submissive position makes Alex feel so damn good, but remembering how easily Jeffrey switches between their roles makes the whole thing even more special. During the walkabout, there was nothing stopping Jeffrey from whispering inappropriate comments to him or playing with the key, but he hadn’t because he loves his job as much as Alex does and he respects the monarchy and their roles in it.

Sighing softly, Alex closes his eyes and relaxes into the pillow he’s lying on while his dom rubs his ass.

Jeffrey chuckles softly. “Feeling good, huh?”

“I love this so damn much,” Alex mumbles.

“That’s good cause I do too. It makes even a boring game interesting.”

His dom parts his ass cheeks and gently rubs his lubed fingers over Alex’s loose hole, sending sparks rushing through him as Alex moans. His dom had fucked him earlier and his hole is still a sticky mess from his dom’s cum, which makes Alex feel even naughtier as he lies there, his legs spread and his ass on display.

Jeffrey laughs softly and Alex knows he’s smirking. He doesn’t even have to open his eyes to check if he’s right. His hole twitches against his dom’s fingers and finally, his dom rewards him by slipping the tip of two fingers into him. He doesn’t slide in too far; keeping his thrusts shallow and slow. It’s clear his dom isn’t trying to rile him up and his arousal stays at a constant simmering level while his cock presses against his cage.

Alex had been thrilled to discover that he loves being with his dom like this. Doing full scenes together is something they’ve always been good at and being friends is also easy. But it’s been a joy to figure out that they don’t have to stick to certain roles when it’s just the two of them. They can blend everything together and create something that feels familiar but it’s also brand new.

Playfully clenching his hole around his dom’s fingers, Alex smiles as he rubs his face on his pillow. “So the game’s boring?”

“Uh huh. The score’s already four nothing and our boys can’t seem to get out of our zone.”

“Clearly the players are jealous of me,” he mumbles. “They’re all distracted because they wish they could be me right now. It’s no wonder they can’t focus on hockey.”

Jeffrey laughs and twists his fingers in Alex’s hole, making him shiver pleasantly. “I’m sure that’s it. I’m sure their performance has nothing to do with Remkin and Sawyer being injured.”

Alex chuckles. “I’m sure too. Losing their top scorers is nothing compared to the whole team being sad that they can’t lie on your lap with their hands cuffed while you play with their asses.”

Taking his fingers out, Jeffrey gently massages his ass before smacking it lightly. The smack makes Alex jump as heat rushes through him and he groans.

“Well, if it’s true then the poor guys will just have to get over it. I’m a one-sub kind of dom and there’s no way any of them could compete with you.”

Grinning as warmth spreads through him, Alex blinks his eyes open and stares up at Jeffrey, who’s staring at him rather than the television screen. He’s got a soft smile on his face as he rubs Alex’s ass.

“Well, that’s good,” Alex mutters. “I’d fight like hell to keep my place.”

His dom chuckles softly. “You wouldn’t have to fight, I promise.”

Alex raises an eyebrow, a smile on his lips. “Even if I’m up against Sawyer’s abs? I’d try my hardest, but I don’t have time to get a six pack and maintain it.”

Jeffrey laughs. “Even then.”

Conversations like this always make Alex feel so good and he closes his eyes and drifts off again. Jeffrey goes back to playing with his hole while the hockey game announcer sounds like he’s losing the will to live as the game continues going terribly.

A familiar sound echoes behind the sound of the television and Alex slowly opens his eyes. “Is that my phone or yours?”

Taking his hands off him and wiping them on the towel lying next to him, Jeffrey grabs the three phones sitting on the bedside table and checks through them. “Yours.”

“You wanna check what the noise was? I’m way too comfortable. Besides—” Alex wiggles his hands, which are still cuffed behind his back. “—I’m a little tied up.”

Jeffrey snorts at the bad joke and presses some buttons on his phone. “I need your code.”

Alex mumbles through the numbers without even thinking about it. Giving Jeffrey the code to his phone makes as much sense as giving him the code to his quarters. It’s convenient and Alex trusts Jeffrey more than he trusts himself.

Jeffrey has a soft smile on his face as he types on Alex’s phone. Then his smile gets bigger. “It’s your social media account weekly update. You got—” Jeffrey’s eyebrows fly up. “—damn! You got 13,678 comments over the last week.”

As it always does, that makes Alex smile. “Oh, that’s nice. The numbers would be higher if I had posted something new, but I’ve been busy over the last week.”

Laughing, Jeffrey lowers the phone and gives him a stinging slap on his ass. “Yeah, you’ve been spending every spare second getting fucked and spanked.”

Alex shrugs as he laughs. “What can I say? I have naughty priorities. But I’m gonna start something new on Wednesday. I don’t have an afternoon engagement.”

Jeffrey’s gone back to scrolling through his phone. “Do you actually read all these comments?”

Sighing, Alex makes a face. “Sadly, no.”

“Yeah, no kidding. That would be a full time job.”

“Yeah and I already have one of those. When I started posting and saw how many comments I was getting, I realized I couldn’t keep up with them on my own. It briefly made me consider giving the palace control of the account.”

“The Grand Empress would have been thrilled.”

Alex smirks. “Yeah, but I would have hated it. The whole point of the account is that I get to control what I do with it and how I interact with people. I don’t read everything, but I skim through the comments once a week so I’ll catch it if somebody says something interesting.”

“People really love that you have this account,” Jeffrey mumbles, smiling.

“I do too. It’s nice being able to interact with people without my title getting in the way. Most of the people on there are only interacting with me because of my title, but there are some people who like my ice sculptures and they want to chat about that.”

Suddenly, Jeffrey sucks in a sharp breath as he lowers Alex’s phone. “Oh, my God! I just realized something.”

“What?”

Jeffrey stares down at him, a wry smile on his face. “You were always so secretive about your art and it turns out that I knew about your art all along.”

Alex laughs. “That’s true.” Then his smile fades. “Yeah, I wanted to tell you about it so much. But the risk was too high. If I talked about certain pieces and you happened to come across my posts, you would have been able to connect the pieces.”

Now that he’s thinking about all of that, Alex remembers that hiding his art from his dom hadn’t been the only time his ice carvings had been negatively impacted by their relationship and the smile slips off his face.

“What are you frowning about?” Jeffrey asks.

Alex sighs softly. “I did something stupid.”

“Impossible.”

“No, I’m serious. You remember the hockey skates sculpture I made?”

Jeffrey’s face lights up. “Yeah, I loved it so much. Oh, wait!” His smile gets even bigger. “Don’t tell me you made that for me.”

Alex makes a face. “Yeah, I did. It didn’t even occur to me until afterwards that I wouldn’t be able to share it with you, but I still loved that piece even once I realized.”

“I love it too. So why are you frowning?”

He sighs softly. “I destroyed it after we broke up.”

Jeffrey doesn’t respond for a while, then he’s shifting to pull his legs out from underneath Alex. Knowing his dom is probably upset that Alex had reacted in such a ridiculous way makes his heart sink. He’s about to promise that he’ll redo the hockey skates—not just for himself but also for Jeffrey—but Jeffrey’s lying down next to him and wrapping his arm around his back as he nuzzles his face.

“I’m sorry,” Jeffrey whispers.

Alex snorts because Jeffrey has it backwards. “No, _I’m_ sorry. It was a stupid, impulsive reaction and I shouldn’t have done it.”

“No, it wasn’t stupid. You were hurting and seeing the skates in your workshop was a constant reminder that I’d hurt you. I understand why you wanted to get rid of it.” He sighs softly as he runs a hand through Alex’s hair. “I wish I’d gotten the courage to call you earlier and maybe it would have spared you that pain.”

Realizing that the loss of the sculpture hurts Jeffrey as much as him helps Alex reassess the situation. Tilting his head, he finds his dom’s lips and kisses him. “You know what? I’m tired of being sad because of the past.”

Jeffrey smiles, but the smile is still sad.

Alex wants to comfort him, but that means he needs his hands free. Wiggling them, he shifts against Jeffrey. “Can you undo my hands?”

Leaning over him, his dom unclips the wrist cuffs and as soon as he’s free, Alex sits up and pushes Jeffrey to lie down before crawling over him and kissing him hard. “I’m so damn happy you did call me,” he whispers against Jeffrey’s lips. “That’s what I want to remember out of this whole thing. Nothing else.”

Jeffrey wraps his arms around his back and he’s still frowning so Alex keeps kissing him until finally, Jeffrey sighs softly and starts kissing him back.

“I’m going to make you a new sculpture,” Alex mumbles. “It’ll be a hockey stick and it’ll be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done.”

That makes Jeffrey smile and he tightens his grip on Alex as he rubs his back. “Can I watch when you make it?”

Alex snorts. “Of course! I need a hockey expert giving his expert opinion. I’m just the artist.”

Laughing, Jeffrey stares up at him, his face filled with joy again, which is exactly how things should be.

* * *

Putting on his gloves, Alex opens the ice making machine and grabs the clamps to hoist out his new ice block, which will become part of Jeffrey’s hockey stick. Or rather, an artistic depiction of it. “It won’t be life size,” Alex cautions Jeffrey as he lifts the heavy block out of the machine and carefully puts it on his carving table.

Jeffrey’s sitting on a chair by the table, wearing safety glasses and the thick dark jacket he usually wears over his uniform when he’s outside. “I’d be happy if it were just an inch long.”

Alex laughs. “That’s no fun.” Then he throws Jeffrey a wink, which makes him laugh.

Once the block is properly situated on the table, Alex makes a rough outline of what he wants to create on the ice block using a small ice pick. Then he takes down his chain saw which he’ll use to saw off large pieces of ice before the finer work can start. Jeffrey makes a noise from his chair and Alex glances at him through his safety glasses. “What?”

Pressing his lips together, Jeffrey stares at him, his eyes flaring with heat. Instantly, Alex knows why he’s staring and he grins as he wiggles his eyebrows at him. “Like what you see?”

Jeffrey clears his throat. “I always knew you used some power tools to do your carvings but I’ve never seen you using them. It’s...quite the picture.”

Alex laughs. “I’m glad you’re appreciating all of my...assets.”

“Oh, I’m definitely appreciating them. Definitely, _definitely_ appreciating them.” Then Jeffrey flushes and shifts to pull his chair closer to the table. “But I’ll have to sit closer to the table if I’m going to truly appreciate things.”

Alex laughs harder. “It’s definitely not to hide how turned on you are, right?”

Jeffrey flushes even more and chokes out a laugh. “Definitely not. How dare you assume I find any of this sexually arousing? I’m appreciating your artistic abilities.”

“Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Larson.”

Jeffrey throws him a mock-glare. “Yeah, you better be apologetic, Mr. Wallace. Making all kinds of inappropriate assumptions.”

Grinning so hard that his jaw is starting to hurt, Alex lifts the saw. “I’ll get started on demonstrating my artistic abilities.”

Swallowing hard, Jeffrey lets out a strangled sound as Alex flicks on the power switch, gets the saw lined up and starts cutting.

It takes a while, but Jeffrey slowly seems to get accustomed to seeing Alex wielding various tools and hauling the ice block all over the table because he starts getting more fascinated with the ice block, rather than Alex. Once Alex has cut the block down with the chainsaw, he switches to his large chisel as the block slowly starts to resemble what Alex is trying to make.

“It’s really interesting watching you do this,” Jeffrey mumbles, sounding awed.

Alex shoots him a grin. “Yeah? I was worried you’d get bored.”

Jeffrey snorts. “First of all, I could watch you staring at a wall and not get bored. But second, I never stopped to think how much work all of this is. I always knew you were good, but it didn’t really occur to me that you literally start out with a block of ice and then turn it into something amazing. I don’t know...I think I always thought the design was hiding somewhere in the block and you were just chipping away the outer layer? That sounds really dumb, but anyway. So seeing all this—” Jeffrey makes a vague hand gesture. “—is really impressive.”

The warm glow that had been filling his chest ever since Jeffrey had asked if he could accompany him to the workshop gets more intense. It occurs to Alex that Jeffrey wanting to be with him right now means even more to him than when they have sex or chat about random things. Sex isn’t an option at the moment and there’s no direct benefit for Jeffrey being here. But yet, he wants to be here because he enjoys spending time with Alex.

Most importantly, Alex is doing something that has absolutely nothing to do with him being a Prince. The workshop might be physically inside the palace, but it could be anywhere else in the world and nothing would change about how either of them are acting. Alex is just being himself, doing something he loves and Jeffrey isn’t complimenting him because he’s trying to win favors from a Prince or feels it’s his obligation as a member of the Royal Staff. Jeffrey’s compliments are sincere, as is his joy at sharing this with Alex and that means so much to him.

His heart feels as if it’s going to burst out of his chest and Alex ends up dropping the chisel, stepping over to Jeffrey and grabbing his face with his gloved hands and kissing him. Jeffrey lets out a happy sound and wraps his legs around Alex’s as he kisses him back.

“Thank you for being you,” Alex whispers against his cold lips.

Smiling, Jeffrey stares at him, his eyes shining with that soft fondness that Alex loves so much. “I love you,” Jeffrey whispers.

Hearing that makes Alex’s heart leap as it always does and he grins as he kisses Jeffrey hard. He can’t believe how lucky he is.

* * *

Alex had loved the experience of sharing his hobby with Jeffrey so much that he finds himself wanting to return that favor. Watching hockey games with Jeffrey and following hockey news is one of the ways Alex supports Jeffrey’s hobby, but he wants to do more. While Jeffrey loves watching hockey and talking about it, one of his greatest joys is going to his weekly hockey game and getting to engage in his hobby with his own two hands. Alex knows how great that feels and he wants to be part of it...but there are logistical problems involved in that.

He knows if he mentions it to Jeffrey, he’ll remind Alex about the security issues and how the whole thing could blow up in their faces. Not to mention that Alex hates the idea of going to Jeffrey’s hockey game and unintentionally stealing all the attention if word gets out that Prince Alex is sitting in the stands. He wants to support Jeffrey just like Jeffrey supports him and that means keeping his title and all associated distractions out of it.

But he’s determined to find a way to accomplish his goal and after days of thinking it over, he finally comes up with a plan but he doesn’t tell Jeffrey about it. Not only would Jeffrey’s worries derail the whole thing but Alex wants to surprise him. It takes a few days until Alex manages to discreetly get the name of the rec center out of Jeffrey without arousing any suspicion, but once he has the name, his plan can be put into action.

On Sunday morning, Alex wakes up earlier than planned and calls the kitchen to have his breakfast delivered a bit early so he’ll be ready. He has a rough idea of when Jeffrey’s hockey game takes place, but he wants to get there with plenty of time to spare.

Once Jeffrey texts him and tells him he’s leaving for hockey, Alex grins and puts his plan into motion. He puts on the wig and fake glasses he always uses when he wants to be in public without being recognized and puts on some casual clothes before grabbing his car keys and heading out. The palace guards are accustomed to Alex coming and going while wearing his disguise and they let him pass with a casual wave.

He drives to the rec center and parks close to the doors so he can make a speedy get away if things go sideways. Then he checks his wig in the mirror and pulls the hood of his sweater up before getting out of his car. Other people are walking around the parking lot but just as Alex had hoped, nobody even glances at him because he appears to be just a regular person walking up to the center.

Going into the rec center, he quickly follows the signs to the hockey rink and keeps his head tilted down but not enough to make it seem like he’s hiding. He’d learned years ago that the best way to keep people from looking at him too closely and possibly recognizing him is not to act like he’s trying too hard to stay hidden. Leaving his bodyguard, Prakash, behind and driving the old car he’d bought himself years ago are also essential components of keeping his anonymity intact. Nobody expects Prince Alexander Wallace to be driving an old, beaten up car or to be wearing a baggy sweater as he wanders around in public.

It had taken him a few years to figure out how much he has to disguise himself to keep his identity hidden without making it seem like he’s hiding. If he’d walk around wearing sunglasses and a scarf over his face, that would make people look even more closely at him and that’s the opposite of what he wants to achieve. With his wig and glasses, somebody could still recognize him if they looked at him too closely but that’s the point—Alex is dressed in a way that makes people not stare at him too closely because he blends in with everybody else.

His grandpa and great aunt had always been against Alex sneaking around in public without his bodyguard due to the security concerns but Alex had spent years arguing with them until he’d finally won. He’d pointed out that going with Prakash—especially if Prakash is dressed in his customary dark suit—made it much more likely that he’d be recognized because it screamed ‘here’s an important person’ and that heightened the security risk. But Alex refused to accept that he’d never be able to go out in public without his title following him around wherever he went. He’d insisted he had the right to mingle with people without the pressure of representing the monarchy. Yes, he has to wear a disguise when he does it because other people can’t separate him from his title and treat him like a normal person, but the disguise allows Alex to have the best of both worlds. And once he’d turned nineteen, he’d pointed out that he had the legal right to decide when to go out with his bodyguard and when not to and he accepts the risks he takes.

Suffice it to say that neither his grandpa or his great aunt had been pleased with his arguments, but when they’d realized he wouldn’t give in, they’d finally thrown their hands up and told him to be careful but he could do as he wanted.

Alex isn’t an idiot and he’s devoted years to perfecting the art of being in public without being recognized and getting into a bad situation and he likes to think he’s good at it by now. But even after years of doing this successfully, his stomach still twists with nerves as he winds his way through the hallways and passes people dragging sports equipment bags around and families with laughing, excited children running around.

If any of them do recognize him, he’ll end up swarmed by crowds and not only would it take him ages to get out of the center and he might end up in sticky situations, but he also won’t be able to see Jeffrey play hockey. But despite the risk, Alex wants to give it a try. They have to keep most of their relationship hidden and that’s how they both want it, but Alex doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life only being able to see Jeffrey in public while they’re working.

Finding the hockey rink, Alex pushes through the door leading to the spectator stands and quickly climbs up the bleachers. A few skaters are already on the ice, shooting hockey pucks around and yelling to each other as they skate around in lazy circles and there are a few people sitting on the bleachers. Some of them are talking to each other and others are staring at their phones but the crowd is small enough that Alex feels hopeful that he’ll be able to pull this off.

He climbs up to the top of the bleachers and sits on the second one from the top so it doesn’t look like he’s trying too hard to be invisible but he’s safely away from the other spectators. He pulls his phone out and pretends to be scrolling through it while he holds his breath and waits, his stomach still in anxious knots. But just as he’d hoped, none of his fellow hockey watchers even glance at him.

Slowly, Alex lets out a breath and grins because this might actually work! After several minutes of being completely ignored by the people sitting below him, he feels brave enough to glance down at the ice. The first thing he has to do is figure out if this is Jeffrey’s team playing and which one Jeffrey is. Several hockey teams are scheduled to play today and Alex might be in for a long wait if he’d timed things wrong, but that’s okay.

More skaters have appeared on the ice and some of them are wearing blue jerseys while others are wearing one white. Alex scans the names written on the back of their jerseys and he finally sees one that says ‘Larson’. After watching the person skating around for a while and doing a drill with a hockey puck, Alex knows he’s found Jeffrey. Although he’d never seen him skate before, there’s something familiar about the graceful but precise way that Jeffrey moves around the ice.

His stomach lights up with excitement and Alex resists the urge to wave and yell down at him. That would attract way too much attention, so he presses his lips together and wiggles a bit on his seat as he watches Jeffrey skating around and easily flipping the puck back and forth. Seeing him actually playing hockey and doing something he loves is amazing and Alex decides even if he’s recognized within the next five seconds and has to leave, it’ll have been worth it.

It’s so neat watching Jeffrey moving around the ice while wearing his hockey gear and looking so at ease on the ice and Alex really wishes he could wave and let Jeffrey know that he’s watching him. He knows it would mean as much to him as it did when Jeffrey had come to his workshop.

Once the warm up is finished, somebody yells out for the teams to assemble at center ice and they decide who will play the first shift and who will sit down on the bench. To Alex’s delight, Jeffrey gets put on the first shift and he casually skates to center ice where he bends down with his stick blade planted on the ice for the face off.

This is so much more exciting than watching a hockey game on television. While he’s started to appreciate the beauty of the game and the skill involved, he’s still less attached to the sport than Jeffrey is. But knowing it’s Jeffrey down there makes the whole thing exciting in a way he’s never felt about hockey before.

To Alex’s joy, Jeffrey wins the face off and flicks the puck back to one of his fellow forwards before darting around his face off partner and racing towards the opposing team’s net. His teammate snags the puck and deftly keeps it away from the other team as he moves closer to their zone and Jeffrey lets out a yell of “Open!”. The forward shoots the puck over to him and Alex holds his breath as one of the other team’s defencemen tries snagging it from him, but Jeffrey uses some beautiful stick handling to snatch the puck away from him and head towards the goal.

Alex watches with wide, hopeful eyes as his heart races and Jeffrey feigns a shot at the goal from the left side and as soon as the goalie throws himself to that side, Jeffrey twists his stick around and uses a gorgeous backhand shot to send the puck into the wide open right side of the net.

His heart nearly explodes and Alex lets out a strangled cheer, vibrating head to toe. Some of the spectators on the bleachers cheer and clap but Alex is glad he’d restrained himself because he would have been way louder than them and attracted too much attention. Jeffrey lets out a cheer and throws his arms up as his teammates swamp him in a big group hug and Alex wishes he were part of it.

He wants to run up to every single person sitting below him and point at the ice and tell them that Jeffrey had scored a goal! His Jeffrey had scored a goal! And not just any goal, but such a beautifully done goal! Making things even better is that Jeffrey sends him a text when he’s back on the bench once his shift is done and Alex ends up chuckling way too hard when he gets it.

_‘I just scored the first goal of the game! It was a good one.’_

Alex is sorely tempted to reply something like ‘it was more than just good’ and that makes his fingers freeze. He really wants to share this excitement with Jeffrey. He should wait until they’re back home but he wants Jeffrey to know he’s here. He needs to share his joy because otherwise he might have a heart attack. Not to mention that he doesn’t want to lie to Jeffrey but he also doesn’t want to ignore his text or send him some trivial comment like ‘Great job’ when Alex knows he deserves more than that. It occurs to him that telling Jeffrey he’s here might distract him, but on the other hand, it might make Jeffrey as happy as Alex is when they’re in the workshop together.

His mind made up, Alex sends a deliberately cheeky message in response: _‘I know. And I disagree that it was ‘a good one’. I think it was beautiful. The feint to the left made it spectacular.’_

There’s no response and Alex keeps his eye on Jeffrey sitting on the bench with his back to Alex. He sees Jeffrey’s bent over his phone as he’s probably trying to figure out how Alex knows those details. Grinning, Alex quickly takes a picture of Jeffrey sitting on the bench with his last name emblazoned on his jersey and sends that to him, along with another message.

_‘And I’m also enjoying my view. You’re providing me with a fantastic Sunday morning.’_

Chuckling, Alex grins as he watches Jeffrey. He can tell the instant the picture and the message come through Jeffrey’s phone because he stiffens and whips around, staring up at the bleachers.

Alex decides to play with him for a while longer and deliberately pretends to be absorbed in his phone while looking at Jeffrey out of his peripheral vision. It makes him feel ridiculously proud when Jeffrey’s eyes go right past him without lingering. Yay for his years of practice! Even the person who spends more time staring at Alex than anybody else can’t recognize him.

But Alex doesn’t want Jeffrey going back on the ice without knowing he’s really here so he looks up and pushes his hood back a little as he stares at Jeffrey. He can’t help the excited smile that’s spread over his face and he eagerly waits as Jeffrey keeps skimming over the other people on the bleachers through his face shield until he’s finally back at Alex.

Once they have eye contact, Alex gives him a tiny wave, his grin stretching ear to ear as he struggles not to laugh. Jeffrey’s eyes get comically wide and he gapes up at him, looking more shocked than Alex has ever seen him. Oh, this was a fantastic decision!

But predictably, Jeffrey’s shock fades and is replaced by a worried frown as he bends over his phone.

_‘I don’t see Prakash.’_

Alex sighs softly, hoping this whole thing won’t go sideways. _‘He’s not here. It’s okay, I’ve been doing this years. Nobody’s recognized me and I’ll work hard to keep it that way.’_

Jeffrey reads his response and shoots him a worried look, chewing on the mouthguard that’s hanging out of his mouth. But Alex gives him a reassuring smile, hoping Jeffrey will calm down and realize he’s telling the truth.

After spending a while staring around at the others in the stands and hopefully noticing that none of them are paying any attention to Alex, Jeffrey slowly relaxes and a bright smile spreads over his face.

_‘You’ve been here since the game started?’_

_‘Yeah. I wanted to see you play.’_

That makes Jeffrey’s smile grow even bigger and Alex smiles in response, loving how happy Jeffrey is at such a small gesture. To his surprise, that warm, intense feeling in his chest returns and it’s not because Jeffrey’s doing something to support him. Instead, Alex loves being the one supporting Jeffrey. It feels so damn right. There are a hundred other things he could be doing right now but he’s wearing an itchy wig, keeping his head down and sitting on the hard bleachers because he wants to watch Jeffrey play a game that Alex has never had much interest in and the reason why is becoming clear.

He’s in love with Jeffrey.

To his surprise, that realization doesn’t seem strange. It feels like he’s turning feelings into a thought that have lived in his heart for a while. Staring down at Jeffrey standing next to the bench, wearing his heavy hockey gear and his chewed up mouthguard sticking out of his mouth, Alex’s heart keeps pulsing with intensity. Glancing down at his phone, Alex finds his fingers typing out the words that are glowing in his heart.

Jeffrey’s face goes through a series of different emotions and his eyes are filled with warmth as he stares up at him, looking like he doesn’t believe him. Alex maintains eye contact, shaking with the desire to rush down to the ice and kiss Jeffrey senseless. That would be bad for multiple reasons but he can tell Jeffrey’s very close to climbing the bleachers in his full hockey gear and grabbing him. Once that happens, neither of them would stop and that would lead to a lot of trouble for both of them. So they need to be responsible.

Raising an eyebrow at Jeffrey, Alex quirks a smile down at him and points at the ice. Jeffrey lets out a long sigh and eyes are filled with intensity, but he manages to turn back around and sit down.

To Alex’s delight, Jeffrey plays like a beast for the rest of the game. He flies across the ice and seems to be fueled by adrenaline that’s taking his teammates off guard but Alex smirks when he notices. He’s very familiar with Jeffrey Larson’s intensity and he’s looking forward to enjoying it once they’re back home.

It’s no surprise that their team ends up victorious and Jeffrey scores three out of the five goals. He sends Alex a quick text.

_‘Please get out of here and go back home cause if I get within grabbing distance, I’ll fuck you no matter where we are.’_

Alex smirks and stands up as he types out a reply. _‘Yes, sir. Any other instructions?’_

He gets the response before he’s finished climbing down the bleachers. _‘Naked, lubed up, collar on, in bed.’_

His cock stirs and his heart starts racing as he hurries past the other people making their way out into the hallway. He tries not to rush so he doesn’t attract any attention, but he does come close to breaking the speed limit as he drives home and almost runs to his room.

By the time he’s ready and lying on his bed, his legs spread wide open and his slick hole twitching, his cock is stiff in the cage and Alex is already shaking. He’s panting so hard that he doesn’t hear Jeffrey come in until he appears in the bedroom, fumbling to tear his clothes off. His cock is already hard as he climbs onto the bed and Alex eagerly winds his legs around him.

“Please, sir,” he chokes out, arousal pulsing through him.

Jeffrey lets out a low moan, his eyes dark with arousal as he pulls the key off his neck and frees Alex’s aching cock with shaking hands. Once his cock is free, his arousal spirals even higher and Alex cries out at how good it feels.

His dom bends over and swallows him down, sucking him hard. Alex is so turned on that all he can is clutch the sheets underneath him as he lets out choked cries and his thighs clutch his dom’s sides. He comes within a few minutes, his dom moaning around his cock as he comes. As he lies there, gasping for breath and trembling, his dom slicks up his cock with the lube Alex had left lying next to him and finally, Jeffrey slides into him and grabs his wrists, pinning him to the bed as he fucks him hard. Alex pants up at him, his body lighting up as his dom thrusts into him and stares down at him, his eyes blown wide with that dark intensity that Alex loves so much.

“Say it,” Jeffrey gasps out, his pelvis smacking into his ass with every thrust.

Alex knows what he wants to hear and a smile spreads over his face. “I love you,” he whispers, his voice shaking.

His dom moans and briefly closes his eyes as he fucks him harder. It feels more intense than it normally does and Alex is sinking into that warm haze while his dom thrusts into him and holds him down.

“You’re amazing,” his dom gasps out. “My precious Alex. I can’t believe you came to watch me play and I can’t believe you’re in love with me.”

Alex grins. “None of that should be a surprise to you,” he mumbles.

That makes his dom moan again as he leans down and pants against his lips, fucking him hard. “I’m gonna spend the rest of the day making you come as many times as possible, you hear me?”

Letting out a choked laugh, Alex’s grin grows bigger. “I’m looking forward to it, sir,” he whispers. He already knows this will end up being his favorite Sunday ever.

And his dom keeps his word. They have to part for lunch and dinner but both times, his dom leaves Alex with his cage on and a plug in his ass. It takes every ounce of concentration to act normally while the junior butler serves him his meals while his cock is stiff in its cage and Alex is keenly aware that the plug is there to keep him stretched open for his dom and keeping his dom’s cum inside of him while he eats.

The rest of the time, Alex is in a constant haze of arousal and intensity as his dom ties him to various pieces of furniture and spanks him until he’s in tears and coming without anybody touching his cock. He doesn’t have to think, he doesn’t have to worry about anything except obeying his dom, who always praises him and promises to take good care of him.

By the time his dom is coaxing his fifth orgasm out of him and Alex is tied kneeling between the foot posts of his bed with their favorite clover clamps attached to his burning nipples, he’s nearly forgotten where he is, who he is and anything else about his life except his dom rubbing his burning his ass and squeezing his over sensitive cock as he covers his face in soft kisses.

“One more. I know you can do one more. You wanna come for me one more time, don’t you?” his dom whispers against his panting lips as he kisses the tears off Alex’s face.

Alex manages to choke out a sound that hopefully conveys ‘yes’. He’s so exhausted that he’s hanging from the restraints keeping him spread-eagled between the bed posts but he never wants this to end. If it were up to him, he’d spend the rest of his life just like this, eagerly letting his dom coax more orgasms out of him and obeying his dom’s every command.

His dom chuckles and twists his hand around Alex’s aching cock as he pinches his ass. The pain and pleasure that radiate through his exhausted body make Alex twitch and cry out weakly.

“You look gorgeous,” his dom mumbles. “My gorgeous Alex. Being such a good boy for me. I’m gonna put the prostate massager back into you, okay? That’ll get you there.”

Alex moans softly as tears keep sliding down his face, but his lips twist into an exhausted smile. “Please, sir.”

His dom pulls back and disappears as Alex hangs there, shaking from the intense arousal and pain that’s pulsing through him. Gentle hands part his sore ass cheeks and a familiar smooth toy slides into his loose hole. When it’s seated, it starts vibrating and it gets shifted around until it’s pressing right against his prostate and pushing his arousal even higher as Alex lets out a choked cry.

His dom appears in front of him again and gently cradles his face as he kisses him softly. “I know you can do this. My good boy. You’re gonna come one more time and then you’re gonna go to sleep while I hold you.”

Alex doesn’t know what he wants more—to stay in this moment or to collapse in his dom’s arms—but that’s the beauty of this situation. He doesn’t have to choose because his dom is making his choice for him.

Bending down, his dom gently kisses his way down Alex’s chest and stops to pull lightly on the clamp chain, which makes the clamps tighten on his sore nipples and Alex tenses and lets out a choked cry. His tension presses the massager harder against his prostate, which adds to the intense arousal that’s pulsing through him. It feels so good that it’s hard to breathe.

His dom gently tugs on the chain a few more times, sending bursts of pain through him that immediately dissolve into pleasure, before the clamps are finally removed and replaced with his dom’s wet lips and tongue. His nipples are so sore that his dom’s lips feel almost too hot but every swipe of his dom’s tongue against the stiff buds is amazing and Alex is sobbing as he presses his chest closer to his dom to keep him sucking and licking his nipples as long as possible. Eventually, his dom moves down to lightly suck on his cock and it so intense that it makes Alex’s breath catch as his ass clenches around the buzzing toy and he pulls hard on his restraints before he’s finally coming down his dom’s throat.

That’s when he blacks out a little bit and his eyes drop shut as he listens to himself panting and crying. His body feels numb and if anybody were to ask him where he is and what day it is, he’d have no idea. But that doesn’t matter because his dom is covering his face in gentle kisses and praising him.

“My good boy! You did so good! I’m so proud of my amazing Alex. Let’s get you down and relaxing, okay? I’ll take care of everything, you just rest.”

Alex is shaking so hard and his body is so tense that he barely notices when he goes from being tied up in a kneeling position to lying on his soft, cool mattress. Familiar hands are touching him and gently wiping him clean and turning him on his side so his aching nipples, cock and ass aren’t being pressed to the bed. Cool lotion is spread over his burning ass and nipples and something soft wipes the tears off his face. Towels wipe down his entire body, cooling the intense fire that’s been burning through him for hours. His face is lifted and he’s propped against a warm chest as the nub of a water bottle is pressed to his lips.

“Time to drink,” his dom murmurs in his ear and Alex parts his lips and eagerly sucks down the cold water.

Once he’s done, strong arms wrap around him and soft lips kiss his forehead. “My precious Alex. Go to sleep and don’t worry about anything.”

That’s good because Alex can’t think of anything he could possible be worried about. It’s laughable to think he needs to worry about anything. After all, his dom is here and not only does Alex love him, but he loves Alex too.

* * *

Despite the fact that he should be exhausted, Jeffrey doesn’t fall asleep when Alex zones out on his chest. He should sleep because he has to wake Alex up in a few hours to clean his cage and put it back on him, not to mention that they need to hide away the BDSM gear in Alex’s secret wooden chest so they don’t give any other staff members a heart attack. But Jeffrey’s adrenaline is refusing to fade.

He’s never felt as intensely dominant during a scene as he did today. There’s no doubt that a large part of that is due to Alex having come to his hockey game out of his own free will and also telling Jeffrey that he’s in love with him. Knowing that Alex didn’t just come to his game to support his dom makes Jeffrey’s heart flutter with joy. Alex had taken a risk, given up a large part of his limited free time and spent hours watching an activity he’s not overly fond of just because he wants to support Jeffrey.

No matter what, Jeffrey will do whatever it takes to maintain their relationship as long as possible. He already knows that no matter how hard he tries, he’ll never find somebody like Alex Wallace again.


	13. Chapter 13

Unfortunately, the walls of the cozy bubble he and Alex had created start to get thinner as time goes by. Jeffrey has noticed other staff members whispering among themselves when he’s passing by and while gossiping isn’t openly tolerated, it’s human nature and impossible to put a permanent stop to.

Through some eavesdropping and asking members of staff who he gets along with well, Jeffrey finds out that the staff had noticed how much time he’s spending with Alex. Thankfully, nobody seems to have discovered that Jeffrey sneaks out of Alex’s room very early almost every morning, but people have seen them coming in and out of the workshop and Jeffrey’s been seen coming to Alex’s room. There’s no reason Jeffrey would need to go to Alex’s room on a regular basis so it’s caught people’s attention. And now that Jeffrey and Alex have been together for four months, the gossip is only getting more intense. Thankfully, he’s part of the senior staff so nobody says anything to his face either out of respect for him or because they’re intimidated. But Jeffrey knows the gossip will eventually reach Mrs. Gutierrez’s ears and he think it’ll be better if they get ahead of it.

There’s a random Tuesday where neither Alex nor the Grand Duke have a morning engagement on Wednesday so they both have free time on Tuesday afternoon and they decide to go for a walk. Alex puts on his disguise and drives them up the mountain behind the palace until they find a trail they like the look of and they bundle up in their winter layers before wandering into the snowy forest. There’s nobody around except for some birds and possibly other wildlife, which means it’s a good opportunity to talk about what Jeffrey’s been suspecting.

“I haven’t noticed anybody gossiping,” Alex mutters, his breath fogging up in the frosty air as he reaches up to pull his warm hat more firmly around his ears. His wig and glasses always cause it to ride up a bit.

Jeffrey smiles. “They’re extra cautious not to do it in front of you, especially because you’re part of the gossip. They’re risking their jobs if they annoy you.”

“Still, it’s strange that the staff have noticed and nobody in my family’s said anything.”

Jeffrey makes a face as their boots crunch over the fresh snow covering the ground as they follow the narrow trail through the snow covered trees. “Your family spends a lot less time walking around the hallways than the staff do.”

Alex makes a noise in his throat and frowns. “What do you think we should do? Ignoring it will just make the gossip worse and I don’t want you having difficulties with the other staff.”

Shrugging, Jeffrey smiles at him. “I don’t care about them. I don’t need them to do my job properly and they aren’t important to me.”

Alex is still frowning. “Still. I think we should get ahead of it and you should talk to Mrs. Gutierrez about it before she confronts you. I’ll talk to my great aunt and then everything will be out in the open.” Then Alex’s jaw shifts. “Well...probably not everything.”

Jeffrey knows what he’s thinking and he quickly sets out to reassure him. “I have no intention of telling Mrs. Gutierrez or anybody else that we’re sleeping together. I think that’s nobody’s business and a lot of people would have more problems with that than us just being friends.”

Sighing, Alex presses his lips together as they walk, but he nods. “I agree. We’re in this for the long haul and I’d rather that people get accustomed to seeing us together so it becomes old news.”

Smiling, Jeffrey reaches over and tangles their gloved hands together. “You plan to keep me around for a while, huh?”

Alex chuckles, his eyes sparkling behind the fake, dark rimmed glasses as he squeezes his hand. “Keep you around? I’m planning on clinging to you for eternity.”

Jeffrey bursts out laughing and he only stops when Alex pulls him to a stop and kisses him.

* * *

They take a few days to plan out what they’re going to say to their respective ‘bosses’ so they don’t become rambling idiots when they’re asked hard questions.

Jeffrey isn’t overly concerned about it. There’s no valid argument that could be used to force him and Alex not to continue being friends but if somebody really gets annoyed about it and puts their foot down, Jeffrey already knows his next step will be to hand in his resignation. He won’t even have to think about it.

It’s mind blowing that he’d leave his career behind without a thought but everything has changed over the last few months. Four months ago, Jeffrey had been desperately in love with a person whose name he didn’t know and who might never reciprocate his feelings. Jeffrey couldn’t even trust that his sub was as fully committed to their relationship as Jeffrey was and there was also the chance that his sub would compromise Jeffrey’s career.

Now, that’s all changed and while Jeffrey still loves his job and he’ll fight to keep it, there’s one thing he won’t give up in exchange for his career, and that’s Alex. But there’s no use dwelling on that sad possibility and getting into an argument with Alex over it, which is why Jeffrey didn’t tell him about his backup plan. The best way forward is to prepare for his conversation with Mrs. Gutierrez and hopefully convince her to leave him and Alex alone.

* * *

Mrs. Gutierrez blinks at him and her face shifts slightly, which is the most emotional Jeffrey’s ever seen her. He can’t blame her because he’d just dropped a bombshell on her but he didn’t want to waste either of their time by talking in circles.

“You’ve become friends with His Royal Highness?”

Jeffrey almost smiles because that statement is both true and false at the same time, but he keeps his face blank and remains standing at attention in front of her desk, being the picture perfect senior butler that he is. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’re under the impression that this is appropriate?” It’s clear from her tone that she doesn’t think it is.

In the last ten years, Jeffrey has never pushed back when she’s given him an order or implied that she wanted him to change something. He’s always respected her directives but he’s not going to give in with this. His friendship with Alex has nothing to do with his duties and he won’t allow her to pretend it is. “Yes, I believe it _is_ appropriate, ma’am.”

She gapes at him. Well, nobody else would be able to tell she’s gaping, but her eyes are slightly wider than they usually are and she’s holding herself even more stiffly than she usually does. “Explain how you’ve come to that conclusion, Mr. Larson.”

“My friendship with His Royal Highness has nothing to do with our respective Royal duties.”

“Your Royal duties are impossible to separate from who you are, as you well know.”

Jeffrey takes a deep breath. It’s time for the hard part. “With respect, I disagree. While I live and breathe my duties every moment that I’m working, I have a life outside of this uniform and so does Prince Alexander. Both of us are permitted to have friendships with whoever we want when we’re not working and that includes being friends with each other.”

Her jaw shifts again and her eyes spark. It’s clear she’s not happy about this. “If you wish to have a life outside of your Royal duties, that’s your choice. But it’s not appropriate for you to associate with Prince Alexander in an informal setting. It blurs the lines and that can lead to problems for everyone.”

Jeffrey keeps his back straight and his face blank. “Again, I respectfully disagree. I do agree that some staff members might not be able to navigate a friendship with a member of the Royal Family properly, but I’m not one of those people. Have you received any complaints about my performance over the last four months?”

She stares at him, knowing what he’s implying with that point. “No.” Her tone is icy cold, as if it physically pains her to admit it.

“I know exactly what my role is and what His Royal Highness’ role is. We would never compromise our professionalism for the sake of our friendship and we’re both very invested in maintaining the balance we’ve created.”

Mrs. Gutierrez searches his face for a long moment, as if she’s looking for some crack in his facade or hoping to intimidate him. Jeffrey has deliberately not asked for permission to continue his friendship with Alex because that would insulting to Alex and would give the impression that their friendship is impacted by their roles in the monarchy. Alex has the right to be friends with anybody he wants and so does Jeffrey. This conversation isn’t about asking for permission; it’s just about telling Mrs. Gutierrez what’s going on.

Eventually, Mrs. Gutierrez purses her lips. “I expect you to continue keeping your performance record spotless, Mr. Larson.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

“If there are any difficulties due to your association with His Royal Highness, you will be terminated immediately.”

As he should. “Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re dismissed.”

Once he’s out in the hallway, Jeffrey lets out a long breath as he makes his way to his room. Things had gone well, but this was only half the battle. Now he just has to wait while Alex talks to the Grand Empress.

* * *

Clasping his hands behind his back, Alex stands at attention as the door to his great aunts’ quarters are opened by their butler. “Hello, Akito.”

Akito inclines her head at him. “Your Highness.” Turning away from him, Akito clasps her hands behind her back as well. “Your Majesties, may I present; His Royal Highness, Prince Alexander.”

Alex steps into the large living room and his great aunt Tanisha stands up from the couch and hurries towards him with a big smile on her face and her hands outstretched. “Alex, it’s wonderful to see you again.”

Smiling, Alex reaches out and envelops her small body in a gentle hug. He doesn’t see his great aunts often and it’s always a bit of a shock to see how much older they look each time he sees them. Empress Tanisha sounds the same as she always does and her dark skin makes her look much younger than she is, but her dark hair has faded to gray over the last few years and is sadly making her finally look her age.

“It’s good to see you,” Alex murmurs against her head before gently releasing her.

Then he straightens up and clasps his hands behind his back as his great aunt Melinda stands up from her desk and turns to face him. There won’t be any hugging here and Alex mentally switches into professional mode. Nothing annoys the Grand Empress more than somebody who doesn’t behave professionally in her presence. Tanisha is the only person who can get away with it, but Alex isn’t Tanisha.

Inclining his head in a respectful bow, Alex drops his eyes to the ground and maintains the position. “Your Majesty.”

“Prince Alexander.”

There’s no hint of warmth in her voice, but the fact that she had agreed to see him with only three days notice tells Alex that she cares enough to have this conversation. Her schedule is still very busy and her age leaves her more fatigued these days, which is why the frequency of personal appointments with her is strictly monitored. Alex knows she had given specific permission for their meeting to take place now and that’s her version of demonstrating her affection.

Once she’s greeted him, Alex lifts his head from his bow and keeps his eyes trained on the far wall as he avoids eye contact, following the very strict, traditional protocol that she insists on.

“What did you need to speak to me about?” she asks. Despite the cold, formal tone, Alex can sense some apprehension behind the words and he almost feels bad.

It happens way too frequently that the only conversations they have involve Alex asking for permission to do something she doesn’t approve of and it turns into argument. Honestly, Alex wishes his great aunt would lighten up just a little bit and tolerate being less formal with somebody other than Empress Tanisha. The way things are, Alex wants to spend as little time in her company as possible so he doesn’t want to share his normal day-to-day life with her. He respects and cares for her, but being around her isn’t comfortable. Unfortunately, he doubts that’s ever going to change. That’s what his grandpa thinks and if he’s never had any luck getting his sister to ease up a little bit, then Alex has zero chance.

But that’s all beside the point. Alex wants to get right into the conversation so they can have their usual back and forth discussion while Alex stubbornly fights for what he wants. Whether it’s going out in public without his bodyguards, posting pictures of his ice sculptures on a social media account or being friends with a Royal butler, Alex refuses to sacrifice any of these things just because the generations before him didn’t think such things were appropriate. “I wanted to inform you that I’ve become friends with a senior butler.”

She blinks and that’s a sign the information shocked her. “Friends?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Such associations aren’t appropriate.” There’s a note of finality in her voice and it’s clear she’s hoping that’ll be the end of the discussion.

If it were about something less important then Alex would give in like he has in the past. But this is one of those important issues that he won’t back down over. He’d anticipated her response and he dives right into the replies he and Jeffrey had practiced—which are probably the same replies Jeffrey is giving to Mrs. Gutierrez right now. “I disagree. If either of us allowed our friendship to impact our duties, then I agree it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“The possibility of such an impact cannot be dismissed.”

“I agree, but I also think supporting evidence needs to be taken into consideration. We’ve been friends for four months and there haven’t been any complaints about our performance.”

She stares at him and she looks a bit confused, like the whole concept is strange to her. “Even if the butler is capable of maintaining his professionalism while on duty, it’s not appropriate. Members of the monarchy do not mingle with staff. That’s never been how things are done and it never will be.”

Nope, he’s not going to let her get away with that old argument. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, but we’ve had this discussion many times about many other topics. Just because something hasn’t been done in the past doesn’t mean the activity is inappropriate. Walkabouts didn’t exist until my grandparents started them and we’ve all seen the positive impact they have on the monarchy’s reputation among the public. I’m not saying I intend to use my friendship with Jeffrey to make some type of statement about the role of monarchy and societal class structure but my point stands.”

Her face is impassive as she stares at him. “Why is this friendship so important to you? You have the ability to make friends wherever you want.”

She’s heavily implying that choosing Jeffrey as a friend is picking from the worst group of contenders, but that’s where she’s wrong. “I’ve spent many years attempting to make friends with people who come from groups who you might think are more appropriate but that’s always led to disappointment. Those people didn’t understand my devotion to my Royal duties or they attempted to take advantage of my title.”

“And you don’t believe a butler will attempt to do the same?” She sounds incredulous.

Alex can’t help the spark of anger that lights up in his gut, but he pushes it back down. It’s valid concern to have but she doesn’t know Jeffrey as well as he and his grandpa does. “With all due respect, if he were after my money or my title, there are easier ways for him to attain such things. More importantly, I trust him and he has always made it clear that his devotion to the monarchy is completely separate from our friendship. He has no interest in my money or my title.”

The Grand Empress stares at him for a long moment. Finally: “Who is he?”

“Jeffrey Larson, Your Majesty. My grandpa’s butler.”

“I know Jeffrey,” Tanisha says from the couch. “He’s very impressive. He was at the portrait photoshoot, Melinda. Do you remember? He’s not even thirty and already a senior butler so his accomplishments speak for themselves and Reginald always speaks highly of him. He’s incredibly loyal and professional. It doesn’t make sense that he’d devote so much energy to serving the monarchy if he was only a ladder climber. Alex is right—there are much easier and faster ways to do that.”

His great aunt’s eyes slide over to her wife and Alex discreetly crosses his fingers behind his back.

Finally, she glances back at Alex. “It’s not appropriate but as long as your association isn’t impacting your duties, I’ll tolerate it. That goes for both of you.”

It’s a struggle to hide his smile and Alex respectfully bows his head. “Thank you, ma’am. We won’t disappoint you, I promise.”

She looks a bit tired when Alex glances at her out of his peripheral vision. “You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you for granting me this audience, Your Majesty,” Alex says, barely aware of saying the routine words while his heart is fluttering. He and Jeffrey don’t have to sneak around quite as much as they’ve been doing. They still have to sneak around to hide the fact that they’re sleeping together—never mind what else they do—but they can relax a bit more.

The Grand Empress turns back to her desk and sits down while Tanisha stands up and smiles at him. “Give Jeffrey my best, yes?”

Alex smiles. “I will, thank you.”

She hugs him and kisses his cheek before releasing him and Alex gives her a small head bow out of respect before heading to the door. As he hurries back to his room, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and frantically texts Jeffrey, telling him what happened and demanding to know what Mrs. Gutierrez had said.

* * *

Having clarified their friendship goes a long way to stemming the gossip among the staff, but there’s a part of it that leaves Alex conflicted. He’d told his grandpa about his friendship with Jeffrey and the older man had been very receptive but Alex hadn’t told him the full truth. They haven’t outright lied to him because his grandpa has no reason to suspect they’re more involved than they are, but Alex is accustomed to being honest with his grandpa about most things in his life and not being honest with him about being in love with Jeffrey is starting to weigh on him.

When they’re playing cards on Saturday evening and Jeffrey is preparing their drinks, Alex sorts his cards while moving his eyes back and forth between Jeffrey and his grandpa. He really wants to tell him that he’s in love with Jeffrey and how happy Jeffrey makes him; not just as a friend but as much more.

Knowing his grandpa doesn’t suspect a thing because he expects Alex to be honest about such things with him is making him feel guilty. Plus, he wants to share his joy with his grandpa. There aren’t any other people he’s interested in telling, but keeping such a big secret from him is weighing on him.

“Hmm...I’m not too hopeful about his hand,” his grandpa murmurs, frowning at his cards while Jeffrey brings them their drinks.

Alex musters up a smile. “We’re not re-dealing because I like my hand.”

That makes his grandpa laugh. “That’s not very respectful of your elders, young man.”

Oh, Alex wants to tell him so badly! He knows his grandpa will be thrilled for both of them because he adores Jeffrey and he’ll understand why they make each other happy. But that’s not a decision Alex can make on his own, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“Will there be anything else, sir?” Jeffrey asks, standing at attention next to the table.

Yes, I want to tell grandpa that I’m madly in love with you and you make me happier than I’ve ever been. To keep those words from coming out of his mouth, Alex keeps his eyes on his cards as he shifts them around in his hand.

“No, we’ll be fine. Thank you, Jeffrey.”

Jeffrey turns to Alex. “And for you, sir?”

He keeps his eyes glued to his cards as he pastes a polite smile on his face. “No, thank you.”

He’s hoping it’ll be easier to focus on the game once Jeffrey has left, but that’s sadly not the case. To make matters worse, once he’s back in his room and Jeffrey comes marching into the bedroom, he confronts him immediately.

“What’s wrong? And don’t pretend it’s nothing. You were distracted while playing cards. I’m sure the Grand Duke could tell but he has more patience than I do.”

Alex chuckles as he leans against the pillows stacked up behind his back. He’s wearing a pajama top but he hasn’t put on any pants because he loves it when Jeffrey plays with his locked up cock while they’re cuddling together and watching TV.

Taking off his uniform, Jeffrey carefully hangs the outfit into the closet and takes out his pajamas from the wooden chest where everything Jeffrey related hides. Once he’s dressed, he wastes no time getting into bed, straddling Alex and frowning down at him. “Time to talk.”

Alex smiles as he rubs Jeffrey’s soft pajama pants. It means a lot to him that Jeffrey can tell when he’s feeling down and that it bothers him enough to push Alex about it. But he’s a little worried how this conversation will go. If Jeffrey isn’t comfortable telling his grandpa about them then Alex will respect that but he doesn’t know how he’ll get past feeling guilty over keeping the secret.

Raising an eyebrow, Jeffrey reaches for his cock and roughly massages his balls and his caged cock, which instantly floods Alex with arousal and makes him gasp out as he tenses.

“You can either talk now or I’ll tease you until you can’t think straight and then you’ll tell me what’s bothering you.” But there’s a worried tone in his voice and Alex knows if he gave any sign that he really doesn’t want to talk about, his dom will let it go.

Smiling, Alex lifts his hips and moans as Jeffrey tightens his grip on him. His cock is rapidly stiffening within the confines of the cage and it feels as good as it always does. But sadly, he really does want to talk about what’s bothering him and he doesn’t really need his dom to coax him into it.

He allows himself to enjoy the teasing for a while longer, panting softly and loving the knowledge that he won’t be allowed to come, no matter how turned on he gets because it’s not Sunday yet.

“You’re so damn gorgeous when you let me do this,” Jeffrey whispers, sounding awed.

That brings a pleased smile to Alex’s face and he closes his eyes, enjoying the flood of arousal and discomfort as his dom keeps playing with him. But eventually, Jeffrey climbs off him and lies down next to him before pulling Alex against his chest and carefully positioning their legs so nobody’s pressing against his aching cock. Wrapping his arms around Alex’s back, Jeffrey kisses his head. “Talk to me.”

“I feel guilty not being honest with grandpa,” he mumbles against Jeffrey’s chest. His cock is still stiff and throbbing in the cage, but his arousal quickly fades at the thought of how this conversation could go.

Jeffrey lets out a soft sigh. “I’ve started feeling the same way. I’m fine with the rest of the palace thinking we’re only friends, but it seems so dishonest to make the Grand Duke think differently.”

“I’ve always been honest with him about things. Well, appropriate things. I don’t like hiding the fact that I’m in love, especially with you.”

Jeffrey’s quiet for a while as he rubs Alex’s back. “I think if you only told him you’re in love and refused to tell him with who, he’d be very hurt.”

“I agree.”

“Do you think he’d have any issues with it being me?” Jeffrey sounds doubtful but there’s a hint of worry in his voice.

Alex snorts against his chest. “No. He adores you and he’ll think I’m very lucky, which I am.”

That makes Jeffrey let out a fond, soft chuckle as he tightens his grip on him. “So you wanna tell him?”

“Only if you’re okay with it. He’ll keep quiet about it but I think it’ll make him really happy if we tell him.”

Jeffrey sighs softly. “Can you tell him without me being there? I couldn’t handle it if he doesn’t react well. I don’t know how I’d deal with it if he’s not okay with things, and I don’t wanna embarrass myself.”

Alex can hear how worried he is and he props himself up on his elbows and touches Jeffrey’s face, staring at him. “He’ll be happy for both of us, I promise. We both know how he is. This won’t impact your job in any way.”

Nodding, Jeffrey tries to put on a brave smile but there’s still a hint of concern on his face. Leaning over him, Alex tries kissing it away but even as he puts as much effort into it as he can, he knows nothing will truly alleviate Jeffrey’s concern until Alex has talked to his grandpa and things have turned out exactly as he knows they will.

* * *

Jeffrey’s a nervous wreck as he paces around Alex’s bedroom, waiting for him to get back from talking to the Grand Duke. He’s reasonably sure the Grand Duke won’t have a problem with their relationship, but that nagging doubt sits in his gut and it won’t go away until he has proof that everything’s fine.

Thankfully, the moment Alex barges into the room with a huge smile on his face, that doubt evaporates and Jeffrey’s heart leaps with joy. “He’s fine with it?”

Alex scoffs. “He’s not just fine with it—he’s thrilled for both of us. It took me ages to talk him out of rushing over here to celebrate with you.”

Eyes widening, Jeffrey’s breath catches at how horribly awkward that would be. “I’m really glad you stopped him.” Then he realizes how rude that sounds. “I—if you truly want the Grand Duke coming down here, I’d be fine with that.”

Laughing, Alex steps over to him and wraps his arms around his waist as he kisses him softly. “No, you wouldn’t. You’d be awkward and panicking the entire time. It would be awful and grandpa would feel awful for making you feel weird and the whole thing would turn into a mess.”

Jeffrey makes a face as he leans his forehead against Alex’s. “I know he’s your grandfather and I wish it wasn’t so weird. It’s not weird with you so I don’t know why it freaks me out so much but—”

“But you had a relationship with me that was separate from our professional lives. You’ve never had that with grandpa. The only time you’re around him is when you’re working so it makes sense that your image of him is firmly in one category.”

“He’s such a wonderful man and I wish I could just see him as your grandfather, but...”

“But he’s not just my grandfather. He’s also one of your bosses and he’s always represented the monarchy in your eyes much more than I do.” Alex pulls back and gives him a soft smile, rubbing Jeffrey’s back. “I understand and grandpa understands too. It’s fine, I promise. As long as you understand that he’s fine with us being together, that’s all that matters.”

Jeffrey grins and his heart lights up again. “He’s really happy for both of us?”

Alex’s grin mirrors his. “Uh huh. He said he doesn’t know who’s luckier, you or me.”

Chuckling as excitement coils in his stomach, Jeffrey grabs Alex’s hand and pulls him towards the bed. “That’s my cue to prove to you that it’s definitely me.”

Smirking, Alex lets himself be pulled to the bed as he reaches up to undo his shirt buttons. “It’s definitely not you, but feel free to waste your time with that hypothesis.”

Struggling to push back his smile, Jeffrey throws him a mock-glare. “More undressing, less talking.”

His smirk growing, Alex speeds up his undressing. “Yes, sir.”

* * *

The next morning, Jeffrey has to come face to face with the Grand Duke and despite all of Alex’s reassurances and how well Jeffrey knows the Grand Duke, he’s still nervous about it.

But luckily, the Grand Duke treats him the same as he does every single day. He doesn’t ask any questions related to Alex and he doesn’t make any reference to the secret he’s been let in on. Things are so normal that Jeffrey settles into their routine and eventually forgets about the fact that the Grand Duke knows Jeffrey’s sleeping with his grandson.

Their second engagement of the day is at a bakery and Jeffrey loves being surrounded by the sweet scent of baked goods and seeing all the fancy desserts laid out in the glass display cases. They’re given a tour around the kitchen as well and the Grand Duke is allowed to operate one of the large mixers and cookie press machines, which predictably makes him light up like a giddy child. It’s a struggle keeping his own smile hidden at the Grand Duke’s enthusiasm but Jeffrey’s glad that a lot of people are taking photos of the Grand Duke’s shining eyes and big smile because these are ones Jeffrey’s definitely going to save.

On their way back to the palace, the Grand Duke keeps poking at the many bags of goodies he’d been gifted, which makes Jeffrey smile. “Would you like another one of the walnut cookies, sir?”

“Oh, I shouldn’t,” the old man says, but his eyes are clearly saying that he thinks he should. “I’m sure I already ate a dozen.”

His smile growing, Jeffrey opens the box with the walnut cookies and takes out a few napkins. “I didn’t keep track so as far as I know, you didn’t have any, sir.”

The Grand Duke’s smile grows as he takes the offered napkins from Jeffrey and spreads them over his suit while Jeffrey carefully wraps a few cookies in napkins and hands them over.

“I like your thinking process, Jeffrey. We’ll start the count at one,” he says as he lifts the first cookie.

Jeffrey grins as he arranges the other boxes around himself. “And once you’re finished that cookie, we’ll start at one again.”

The Grand Duke laughs as he happily munches on the cookies. As they drive, Jeffrey takes out his phone and finds some of the pictures from the Grand Duke’s visit that have already been published on paparazzi websites. One of them shows the Grand Duke standing by the cookie press machine with his hand on the lever as he smiles proudly and Jeffrey immediately saves it and also sends it to Alex.

“By the way,” the Grand Duke says as he brushes some crumbs off his lips after finishing the first cookie.

“Yes, sir?”

“That box of cinnamon buns? The special ones made with the jam and nuts and other things?”

Frowning, Jeffrey bends down and starts searching through the boxes. “I remember, sir. Just one moment.”

“There’s no hurry. I wanted to say that we both know who would love to have that box. You can bring everything else to the staff dining room.”

Freezing with his hands between the boxes, Jeffrey glances at the Grand Duke. The comment had been very casual and to the Grand Duke’s driver and bodyguard, it was just a reference to a family member. There’s no hint that the Grand Duke was implying anything else with his comment, but when Jeffrey stares at him, the old man gives him a soft smile as he chews on the second cookie.

It’s clear that the Grand Duke is trying to convey a message as gently and discreetly as he can and he’s only doing it to keep Jeffrey at ease. How Jeffrey responds will determine whether the Grand Duke will continue making such comments or not.

Screwing up his courage and ignoring the awkwardness that’s threatening to invade his head, Jeffrey shoots the Grand Duke an equally soft smile. “Prince Alexander will love the cinnamon buns, sir. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And tell him the cinnamon buns are in no way bribery related to our card games. They have _nothing_ to do with our card games. Absolutely nothing. After all, such bribery would be very unethical and we can’t have that. So please emphasize that they’re not bribery in any way.” The Grand Duke follows that up with a wink and a smirk.

Jeffrey chuckles and a warm glow spreads through his chest. It means a lot to him that the Grand Duke is trying to demonstrate his support for Jeffrey’s relationship with Alex with his customary kindness and humor but he also understands how difficult the situation is for Jeffrey and he’s willing to stick to the boundaries that Jeffrey’s desperate to maintain for the time being. “I’ll be sure to emphasize that, sir. I’ll emphasize it very, _very_ heavily.”

“Wonderful, thank you.”


	14. Chapter 14

The next few weeks are the busiest time of the year at the palace due to the upcoming Annual Banquet. It’s both Jeffrey’s favorite time of the year and also the busiest time. Along with his normal duties, Jeffrey has to spend every spare moment helping with the preparations.

While the Events Coordinators spend the entire year preparing for the banquet, the big preparations start a week before the main event. The enormous Banquet Hall—which is normally an enormous empty space which the youngest Royals use to play indoor soccer and other games—is cleaned from top to bottom. Then the large tables are brought in, along with the 150 chairs that will seat the Royal Family, dignitaries, celebrities and other important individuals who are invited. 150 sets of the traditional silverware have to be polished to a shine, 150 napkins have to be ironed and folded and the tables have to be set up.

It’s fussy, detailed work and Jeffrey loves it. Every place setting has to be set up precisely with the position of the crystal wine glasses, the cutlery and napkins having to be measured so they’re perfect. As a senior butler, it’s Jeffrey’s responsibility to supervise the junior butlers as they do each place setting and follow behind them with his ruler to make sure everything is in the right position.

Another thing he has to practice is how to carry the heavy serving trays while maintaining proper posture and not dropping the tray on anybody. The procedure is very different from serving meals to individual members of the Royal Family and it’s not a skill the staff have to perform frequently so practice is essential. In preparation, Mrs. Gutierrez always has the senior butlers practice in the Entrance Hall while other members of staff play guests and mingle around. Jeffrey has to carry the heavy tray with one hand while walking around the ‘guests’ and offering them drinks without dropping it and while maintaining proper posture while Mrs. Gutierrez critiques their performance and demands corrections.

Jeffrey secretly used to practice using a tray and various items in his room when he’s alone because he hates making a mistake even when he’s just around his peers. But after having told Alex about it, Alex had asked if he could be included in Jeffrey’s practicing. To Jeffrey’s delight, that had turned into a lot of fun and also added a layer of difficulty when Alex had put a blindfold on Jeffrey and made him walk around an open space in his living room while randomly bumping into him and forcing Jeffrey to keep the tray and objects on it balanced. That had led to a lot of tray dropping but it had also led to a lot of kissing and laughter and it was great practice and fun. His practice pays off when he performs the practice rounds with the rest of the staff perfectly and smugly texts Alex about it afterwards—which Alex only replies to with a string of laughing faces.

In addition, part of his responsibility is getting the Grand Duke prepared for the banquet. The seating arrangement takes weeks to create and the Grand Empress works closely with the Events Coordinators to make sure everybody will be seated appropriately. It’s Jeffrey’s job to make sure the Grand Duke knows exactly where he’s going to sit, who will be sitting around him and what conversation topics he can use. But because he wants the Grand Duke to be as prepared as possible, he insists on the Grand Duke knowing the entire seating arrangement and who each of the 150 guests will be. There’s always the chance that somebody sitting next to the Grand Duke will ask him who somebody is or will make a comment about somebody and Jeffrey would be horribly embarrassed on the Grand Duke’s behalf if he had to stumble his way through the conversation because Jeffrey hadn’t prepared him properly.

As usual, the Grand Duke goes along with Jeffrey’s meticulous preparations and participates in the various games and drills Jeffrey comes up with so the work stays as entertaining as it can be while still accomplishing its final goal.

The only downside to the more hectic schedule is that Jeffrey notices it taking a toll on the Grand Duke. The old man moves slower on their engagements and he asks for the heat in the car to be turned up higher than normal as they drive back home. Sometimes he even forgets the names of people he’s talking to and while that’s a normal occurrence from time to time, Jeffrey notices it happening with higher frequency during the lead up to the banquet. It’s worrying, but there’s nothing Jeffrey can do except support the Grand Duke as much as he can and keep him comfortable while making sure he doesn’t embarrass himself. It’s clear the Grand Duke’s age is starting to take a toll on him and Jeffrey’s coming to the realization that at some point, the Grand Duke’s schedule will have to be reduced. But there’s nothing anybody can do about the situation right now so Jeffrey pushes forward and does whatever he can to support the Grand Duke. It’s exhausting work and Jeffrey hardly has time to see Alex except in the evenings before going to bed, but he loves every moment of it.

Two days before the banquet, Jeffrey stumbles into Alex’s bedroom and he’s so exhausted that he wants to face plant right on the bed. But as he takes off his uniform, he sees Alex sitting on his bed and reading over the banquet seating chart, which catches his attention. “You’re still working on the seating chart, huh?”

Alex smiles, his eyes on the large paper filled with the 150 names. “Yeah. Gary’s been tired after our engagements and I told him I can do it on my own.”

Jeffrey frowns as he finishes pulling on his pajamas. “It’s Gary’s responsibility to help you get ready. In two days, it’ll be done and we can go back to our normal schedules and he can rest.”

Rolling his eyes, Alex glances at him. “It’s fine. Gary’s wonderful but he’s getting older. Besides, I don’t need him standing there, saying yes or no while I go over the whole chart for the millionth time. I can do it on my own.”

Walking to the bed, Jeffrey sits down and leans over to kiss Alex. Moaning softly, Alex drops the seating chart and kisses him back, lightly holding his face.

Jeffrey smiles into the kisses, but he’s too tired to do anything more physical tonight so he pulls back. But it doesn’t sit right with him that Gary’s not helping Alex as much as he should be. Besides, when Alex glances back at the seating chart, he’s chewing his lip and doesn’t look as confident as Jeffrey wants him to be two days from the banquet. “How are you feeling about the chart and conversation topics?”

Alex shrugs. “It’s okay. I’m sitting between Henry Vogler and Mayor Pemden so that should be fine.”

Jeffrey nods. Henry Vogler is the son of a rich family in Hiveria and he’d gone to the same school as Alex. While Jeffrey has never gotten the impression that they get along very well, they should be able to chat about sports, movies and other things people their age are interested in. Mayor Pemden is the newly elected Mayor of Neige, which might present some more challenges. “You remember the details about the election?”

Smirking, Alex rolls his eyes. “Do I remember that it was a five way race and the results were almost evenly split between the five so the majority of people in Neige—including you—didn’t vote for her? Yes, I remember. To be honest, I don’t think I would have voted for her either if I were allowed to vote. I think not bringing up the election would be best.”

Jeffrey smiles. “I agree. And not bringing up any of the other four candidates would be good too. But she’s big on education so you can talk about when you visited Neige University last month and that new outdoors-learning elementary school you went to a few months ago.”

Nodding, Alex stares at Jeffrey seriously. It’s a little worrying because Jeffrey had hoped that Gary would have told Alex all of this, but as always, it’s not Jeffrey’s place to judge Gary’s work performance. But no matter what, Jeffrey hates seeing the uncertain look on Alex’s face and the only thing he would hate more than sending the Grand Duke into the banquet unprepared is to send Alex in unprepared. “Do you wanna prep together for a little while?”

Alex smiles softly. “No, it’s fine. You’re exhausted and you’ve done all your prep with grandpa already.”

That settles it and a new flood of adrenaline fills Jeffrey. “If you think I care about being tired when you don’t feel confident about the banquet, you’re crazy.”

Getting out of bed, he pads over to Alex’s desk and takes out two pens and pieces of paper. Coming back to the bed, he hands Alex some sheets of paper and a pen. “Rip those into small squares and write down each person’s name. You do half and I’ll do the other half. When we’re done, we’ll do some of the games I play with the Grand Duke.”

Alex’s smile is very soft and his eyes shine as he fiddles with the pen. “You really don’t have to do this.”

Jeffrey shrugs as he starts tearing his paper into small squares. “I know I don’t, but I want to.”

Leaning over, Alex grabs his chin and kisses him softly. Jeffrey enjoys the lingering kiss for a while, before he pulls back and gestures at the paper on Alex’s lap. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll start out with easy games and then try a few harder ones.”

“Can we do the one where you put the names in the wrong spots and I have to fix it?” Alex sounds excited about it, which is adorable. “Grandpa always talks about that one and I’ve tried it with Gary but he’s too easy on me.”

Jeffrey chuckles. “You don’t have to worry about me taking it easy on you, I promise.” Then he throws Alex a smirk. “And if you do well on the hard version, I’ll let you suck me off before we go to bed. I’ll grab your hair and fuck your mouth hard and the cage is gonna squeeze your cock so hard but it’s not Sunday so you won’t get to come.”

Alex’s eyes light up and he grabs his pen. “Yes, sir.”

* * *

Doing prep work with Alex is a lot more fun than Jeffrey thought it would be. It’s very different from doing it with the Grand Duke. While Jeffrey still feels just as much pressure to make sure Alex gets things right as he does with the Grand Duke, it’s so nice to be able to touch Alex and kiss him as a reward for getting something right or gently teasing him if he gets something wrong.

But the best part is how happy Alex looks throughout the whole thing. Despite how tedious is to remember the 150 names, where they’re sitting and what they do for a living, Alex can’t stop smiling even when Jeffrey creates difficult games for him.

It’s nearing midnight by the time Jeffrey decides they’ve done enough for the day, even though Alex seems ready to continue. But they’re both tired and tomorrow’s another day so it’s time to give his sub his reward and go to sleep.

Putting the papers, pen and seating charts on the bedside table, Jeffrey takes off his pajama pants and kneels on the bed as Alex eagerly sits up, a grin on his face.

“Get your pants off; I wanna see my beautiful present all wrapped up.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out, stripping out of his pants and sitting back on his heels, his knees spread so Jeffrey can see the bedroom lights reflecting off the silver of his cage. His cock is soft within the metal cage but it won’t be that way for long.

Kneeling in front of Alex, Jeffrey squeezes his own cock and rubs his hand up and down the length, arousal quickly building within him as his cock stiffens. His adrenaline is starting to fade a bit but once he gets Alex’s mouth on him, he’ll be nicely distracted.

Alex is keeping his hands clasped behind his back as he eagerly stares at Jeffrey’s thickening cock, his lips parted as he pants a bit. Once Jeffrey’s hard, he releases his cock and spreads his knees. “You ready to suck your dom’s cock?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex pants out, his eyes dark with desire.

“Gonna be my good Alex? Let me fuck your mouth as hard as I want?”

“Yes, sir. Please.” His voice is shaking.

Smiling, Jeffrey reaches up and tangles his hands in Alex’s hair and pulls him down to his cock, sliding into the warmth of his mouth. Alex braces himself on the bed but once Jeffrey adjusts his grip in his hair and has a good hold on him, his sub puts his hands back behind his back.

His sub moans around his cock and the vibration sends arousal pulsing through Jeffrey as he groans and thrusts hard into Alex’s mouth. He tightens his grip in Alex’s blond hair even more, which makes Alex whimper. Staring down at him, Jeffrey can’t get over how incredibly hot it is to see Alex bent over his lap, his mouth full of Jeffrey’s cock and his hands behind his back as he patiently waits for Jeffrey to fuck his mouth. “So happy to serve your dom, aren’t you?” Jeffrey whispers.

Alex makes a sound in his throat and Jeffrey knows his eyes are closed from bliss.

“You’ve been such a good boy. Such a smart boy. My precious Alex. You wanna keep being my good boy, don’t you? You want me to fuck your mouth hard.”

Alex whimpers in response, shivering in Jeffrey’s grip. As heat pounds through him and his cock twitches in Alex’s warm mouth, Jeffrey can’t hold back any longer and starts thrusting into Alex’s mouth. It’s late and they’re both tired, so Jeffrey sets a fast pace, fucking his sub’s mouth hard and keeping a tight, painful grip in his hair. He knows his sub’s cock is already stiff and being squeezed by his cage and that’s turning them both on even more.

Jeffrey had spent a while serving Alex by doing banquet prep with him and now Alex is serving him. But the best part is that none of it felt like work and Jeffrey’s sure Alex also feels that none of it is an obligation. They don’t serve each other because they have to but because they want to and doing it provides them with joy.

The only thing Jeffrey regrets is that once the banquet is over, their schedules will go back to normal and Gary will regain the full pleasure of serving Alex during his work life. But until then, Jeffrey will enjoy the best of both worlds.

* * *

The day of the banquet is one of Jeffrey’s favorite days of the year. It’s a day filled with stress but also enormous pride. He loves having so many people coming into the palace and showing off how beautiful it is and how well all of them work together like a well oiled machine. It’s the same pride he feels when the Grand Duke does especially well during an engagement but it’s a thousand times better because he feels proud of the entire Royal Family, the entire Royal Staff and the palace itself. It sounds strange and it’s so difficult to explain how he feels and Alex just gives him an amused smile whenever he catches the sappy grin in Jeffrey’s face as he wanders around in a daze in the hours leading up to the banquet.

Before the banquet begins, Jeffrey helps the Grand Duke get dressed in his uniform. He’s not wearing the traditional fur trimmed cape, but he’s wearing that beautiful silver crown which takes Jeffrey’s breath away when he gently pulls it out of the box—as usual.

After the Grand Duke is dressed, he patiently stands still as Jeffrey’s double checks that every inch of him is ready. Every button is polished, not a single frayed thread or crease is visible and the jewels in the crown are sparkling as the silver shines in the sunlight streaming in through the windows. The crown is sitting comfortably on the Grand Duke’s head, his shoelaces are tied properly and there’s only one step left.

Taking the silver gloves out of the plastic bag on the dresser, Jeffrey holds them out. “Ready for the gloves, sir?”

The Grand Duke sighs. “You know I hate those things. They’re so darn stiff. It makes it impossible to hold the cutlery properly.”

Jeffrey smiles sympathetically. “You have time to stretch them out a little bit, sir. Just please make sure you don’t leave any creases.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Holding out one of the gloves, Jeffrey waits until the Grand Duke holds out his hand and Jeffrey carefully slides the stiff silver fabric over his hand. Then the uniform cuff has to be adjusted properly before they do the other glove. Once Jeffrey’s satisfied, he gives the Grand Duke a nod, which is his cue to gently curl his hands into fists to loosen up the starched fabric a bit.

Once Jeffrey’s checked him over one more time, he steps back. “Would you like to go over the seating arrangement one more time, sir?”

The Grand Duke’s frowning at his gloves with displeasure, but he shakes his head. “No, no, it’s fine. I know you have a million things to do so don’t let me keep you. I’ll be on my best behavior and I won’t crease anything until it’s time for me to go downstairs.”

Jeffrey smiles. “Thank you, sir.”

After leaving the Grand Duke, Jeffrey hurries back to his room and puts on a fresh uniform and re-shines his shoes. He checks every button, every thread, every strand of hair and once he’s satisfied, he slips on a new pair of white gloves. Lastly, he puts in the little ear piece that will allow Mrs. Gutierrez and other staff members to communicate with him so they can coordinate everything perfectly. Then he’s ready to go and he takes a deep breath before stepping out of his room. It’s showtime and his stomach is coiling with excitement and nerves as he meets up with other senior butlers heading towards the kitchen to pick up their drink trays.

Once he has his silver tray, he joins the line of senior butlers as they slowly make their way up the nearest hidden stairwell. Jeffrey patiently waits his turn on the stairwell and once Mrs. Gutierrez tells him to proceed, he steps out of the doorway and into the busy Grand Hall, which is already filled with dozens of banquet guests. Everybody is dressed in their finest garments and the room is filled with sparkling jewelry and the quiet murmur of voices.

The white marble floors and stairwell of the Entrance Hall have been scrubbed to a shine and the entire hall’s has been nicely decorated with beautiful flowering ivy circling the tall white columns and bouquets of white and blue flowers sitting in silver vases on the small tables adorning the sides of the space.

Jeffrey double checks his posture, lifts his chin into proper position and checks the positioning of his hand holding up the silver tray filled with sparkling crystal glasses before he carefully folds his other arm behind his back and slowly circles throughout the Entrance Hall. He’s very proud of the practice he’d done and he feels less nervous than he usually does as he makes his way through the guests and offers them drinks as he tries to maintain the perfect balance between providing drinks to everybody but also being invisible.

As always, he immediately picks out all the members of the Royal Family as he makes his way around the Hall and he feels an immediate sense of pride as he sees how beautifully dressed everybody is and how regal they look in their uniforms. But unlike previous years, Jeffrey’s attention isn’t only caught by the Grand Duke but also by Alex.

It’s still a bit strange to see him wearing the traditional light blue, white and silver uniform but it’s especially weird to see the silver crown sitting on his head. Jeffrey constantly forgets that Alex is a Prince when they’re spending time together. Even when they’re doing things related to their duties, they always work together as partners; as if they’re work colleagues who just happen to work for the same company. But as Jeffrey keeps walking around and discreetly watches Alex smiling politely and chatting with a group of people, it hits him that Alex is His Royal Highness, Prince Alexander Wallace. Here they are: Jeffrey is a butler serving drinks to His Royal Highness, who is wearing a silver crown on his head. But His Royal Highness is also wearing a silver cage locked around his cock and Jeffrey is wearing the key around his neck, hidden beneath his uniform.

The stark contrast between their professional and personal roles has always been strange and Jeffrey thinks it’ll always continue being strange. Alex behaves so differently when he’s wearing his crown and the two of them have to maintain a certain level of professional distance while they’re working. But the strangeness doesn’t override the sense of pride Jeffrey feels at how good Alex looks, how effortlessly he’s conducting the conversation around him and how everybody looks mesmerized by him. That last part makes Jeffrey feel a little smug because he knows it doesn’t matter how much these people suck up to Alex but when the banquet’s done and Alex’s crown is on its way back to the museum, there’s only one person Alex wants to curl up in bed with and that’s Jeffrey.

He doesn’t make a special effort to do it but when he notices a few people in Alex’s group have empty glasses and he finds himself close enough to their group, he makes his way over and stands next to Alex as he helps swap out the empty glasses for full ones. Alex doesn’t pause in his conversation but his eyes slide over to Jeffrey and they briefly lock eyes. The corners of Alex’s lips tug up just a little bit more and Jeffrey can see the pride shining in his eyes, which makes that familiar love for him squeeze in his heart. Sadly, it’s against protocol for Jeffrey to offer more than a bland, polite smile in return but he hopes he manages to communicate as much with his own eyes when Alex looks at him as Alex did. But that’s as far as their interaction can go or should go because this is one of the most important days of the year and they both have duties to fulfill.

Once the guests have all arrived, it’s finally time for everybody to line up and head up the marble staircase, down the long hallway lined with portraits of former Hiverian Royalty and go into the Banquet Hall for dinner. At Mrs. Gutierrez’s orders in his ear, Jeffrey joins the other butlers as they quietly go back down to the kitchen. The butlers on wine duty pick up their wine bottles and go out into the hallway to line up while Jeffrey takes his assigned spot in line to pick up a tray of appetizer dishes, which will be the first of the eight courses which will be served.

It’s a little unfortunate that Jeffrey can’t be upstairs to see the procession of the guests walking in and being shown to their assigned seating spots by the junior butlers. He’ll also miss seeing the Royal Family coming in last, in ascending order of succession so Alex will come in first and the Grand Empress will be last. But that’s okay because there are multiple television crews who film the whole banquet from start to finish and Jeffrey always watches it multiple times. Whether Alex will want to join him is still an unknown, but Jeffrey loves spending time checking out what everybody’s wearing, zooming in on people’s jewelry and watching whether people are following proper dining etiquette while they’re eating.

Once Mrs. Gutierrez gives them the signal, Jeffrey walks along the hallway and up to the stairwell leading to the hallway just outside the Banquet Hall. Once he enters the hall, he makes sure he keeps the correct distance between himself and the butler in front and he maintains the right posture as he holds the heavy tray balanced on his finger tips. The beauty of the hall always takes his breath away. It’s easy to forget about how amazing the whole thing looks after spending days fussing over every tiny detail, but the whole effect is incredible once the hall is filled with their guests. The silver chandeliers are sparkling overheard and various shades of blue and white flowers decorate the tables. The setting sun is shining through the enormous windows and reflecting off the marble arches and decorative carvings along the wall. Seeing the hall filled with the well dressed and polished guests completes the effect and Jeffrey’s pride makes his heart flutter.

He can’t believe he gets to be part of this. In his opinion, he’s even luckier than the people who get to eat dinner. Most of them only get to be in the palace for a few hours. Jeffrey gets to marvel at the palace’s beauty every single day and he was allowed to participate in setting up the Banquet Hall the same way it’s been set up for generations. It’s such a privilege that he gets to be part of it and he’ll never understand people who don’t think he has the greatest job in the world.

He keeps an eye on the butler walking in front of him and once the other butler has turned to serve their assigned guests, Jeffrey walks a little further until he’s reached his section of the table. A quick check of the guests faces confirms he’s in the right spot and he carefully steps up on the first guest’s left side and puts down the small appetizer plate while holding the tray back over his shoulder. After having served his five plates, he tucks his tray under his left arm and joins the flow of butlers walking around the edge of the room until he’s back outside and going down to the kitchen to refill his tray with more appetizer plates.

* * *

Taking a sip of his wine, Alex smiles politely as Henry keeps rambling about his current girlfriend and how impressed she is with his car and various other things Henry’s father has bought him over the years. It’s times likes these that Alex is reminded why he’s let most of his friendships fizzle out over the years. It also makes him appreciate his relationship with Jeffrey even more and he can’t help but let his eyes skim around the room constantly, trying to catch a glimpse of Jeffrey as the butlers circle around in a never ending stream of dropping off and picking up dishes.

When he was younger, the art of keeping up conversation and not using the wrong utensil for the wrong course would take up all his attention but he’s so accustomed to it by now that he can make Henry believe he’s appreciating their conversation and not commit any dining etiquette sins while he’s secretly wishing he were watching Jeffrey playing hockey or down in his workshop. Or better yet, he wishes he were lazing around in bed with Jeffrey, even if they were still doing banquet prep. It’s a telling sign that he’d rather spend his time drilling the names of strangers and how they’re seated in a room rather than actually sitting in that room and talking to those strangers. Because one of those activities can be done with Alex being Alex, while the other one requires Alex being Prince Alexander. That’s how things have to be and that’s how they can maintain a good balance in their lives, but Alex still can’t wait for the banquet to be over.

Thankfully, Henry finally seems to realize that he’s been talking about himself non-stop for a while and he shoots Alex a fake smile and asks him what he’s been up to lately. Alex has no intention of telling Henry about Jeffrey or anything else that Henry could possibly use against him at a later date. He’s learned the hard way not to give greedy, selfish people any ammunition.

“I’m still doing my ice carving.” That’s a safe, neutral topic that isn’t presenting any new information but it’s keeping the conversation going.

Henry laughs. “I thought you’d grow out of that stuff by now.”

Alex’s smile tightens and it’s only his training that allows him to quickly smooth it back into a neutral smile. “No, I’m still enjoying it and so do a lot of other people.”

People who appreciate him and his skills and most importantly, the people who love him for who he is.

Henry snorts. “I don’t know why you bother making shapes out of the ice. You could just lick an ice block and sell it as it is. You’d make a ton of money.”

It’s a struggle not to gape at Henry and it wouldn’t be polite to point out how disrespectful, unethical and offensive that idea is to the public, the monarchy and Alex himself. But Alex has learned that it’s pointless to correct stupid people who have no real impact on Alex’s life. After tonight, Alex won’t have to deal with Henry until next year and hopefully, he won’t be seated next to him again. But even if he is, he’s not going to make a fuss by asking to be seated away from Henry because that would create an unnecessary scandal and he won’t do that just for the sake of avoiding a few hours of stupid conversation.

“I’m not interested in making financial gains from my hobby,” he says. That’s a nice, neutral way of responding.

Shrugging, Henry rolls his eyes as he leans a bit to the side as a butler leans past him to take his empty plate away. “Whatever, that’s your loss.”

Not wanting to continue the stupid conversation, Alex keeps an eye on the Mayor on his other side and waits until there’s a natural break in her conversation before he engages her. While her politics aren’t to his liking, he hopes she’ll make for a better conversation partner than Henry.

* * *

As much as Henry’s comments annoyed him, they’re easy enough to brush aside because Henry’s opinion doesn’t matter to him. But the conversation does make him pause and reflect on how he currently does his hobby. While he loves creating new pieces and sharing them with the public, he really enjoys interacting with the public regarding his ice carving. He loves reading through the comments and creating pieces that others have suggested and the comments that specifically point out things they loved about certain pieces are his favorites.

But how can he take things further while still maintaining the safety that the digital space provides him? Doing carvings in public would create massive crowds and would require security measures. Not to mention that Alex couldn’t do such a thing as normal Alex. It would be Prince Alexander doing something out in public and with that comes certain expectations and protocol that Alex doesn’t want to mix together with his hobby.

He continues mulling over the problem while he watches Jeffrey’s hockey game and then drives them back to the palace in his car. After Jeffrey’s showered and changed, they head down to the workshop and Alex continues working on his newest project while thinking over what he could do to expand his hobby.

The answer to the problem comes to him out of the blue while he’s explaining to Jeffrey how he creates perfectly round balls. Jeffrey’s always interested in his hobby and learning more about it and Alex loves educating him and even teaching him how to do small, simple pieces. And that experience gives him an idea.

While Jeffrey’s grinning at the round, smooth ice ball in his gloved hands, Alex leans on the work table. “Hey, I kind of had an idea and I want to know what you think.”

“About what?” Jeffrey mumbles, his eyes still on the ice ball.

“I want to do something more with my carving. Not with my carving directly, but I want to interact with people more but not turn it into a Prince thing.”

Frowning, Jeffrey lowers the ball and looks thoughtful. “Any ideas?”

Alex presses his lips together. “Yeah, but it might be dumb so I wanna know what you think.”

“It’s not gonna be dumb and even if it is, I’m not gonna point out that it’s dumb.”

Alex chuckles. “You’re too kind.”

“Well, I wouldn’t do that for most people but I happen to like you just a little bit, so...”

Laughing, Alex bumps Jeffrey with his hips. “Just a little bit, huh?”

“Yeah, just a little. Any more than that and your ego would be impossible to deal with. Anyway, what was your idea, oh, wise one?”

That’s when Alex’s nerves come back because he really doesn’t know if his idea is silly or not. “I’m thinking I want to make videos of how I do some of my carvings.”

Jeffrey’s eyebrows fly up and thankfully, he looks interested. “Like tutorials?”

“Yeah. Some people ask me how to make certain pieces or what techniques I use and I try replying to them but I know I miss some comments and explaining it in words is tough sometimes. Besides, I want to interact with people more. It’s one thing to show people the finished pieces, but I love showing you how I make these things and I think I’d enjoy sharing it with other people too. Plus, I like the idea of teaching others how to do this art form. I wouldn’t be teaching them something related to being Prince Alexander. It would just be normal Alex teaching people something that normal Alex likes doing.”

His smile growing soft, Jeffrey’s eyes sparkle. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

Relief rushes through him and Alex grins. “Really?”

“Yeah. I think people would love watching such videos and even if they’re only watching them for Prince Alexander, they’ll realize very quickly that they’re watching Alex. I think the videos will be helpful for people, you’ll be spreading a traditional Hiverian art form and you’ll continue being a relatable Wallace. I don’t see any negatives.”

Well, there’s one hurdle they’ll have to navigate and it makes Alex pull a face. “I’ll have to get permission from my great aunt. Sharing photos is one thing but videos is something else.”

Jeffrey’s smile stays strong. “Just use all the arguments we just talked about. I’m sure she’ll hate it but she won’t have a valid reason to say no. There aren’t any security risks, you won’t be doing it in public and you’ll continue following all the rules you’ve always followed: no controversial pieces with any political or decisive messages, no financial gains, no promises made etc.”

When Jeffrey lays it out like that, Alex gets more confident that he’ll get permission. His great aunt won’t like or understand why he wants to do this but just like the original social media account or his friendship with Jeffrey, he’s not going to back down because this is important to him.

* * *

Alex’s heart is racing and he’s so excited that it’s a struggle not to run back to his quarters and he nearly drops his phone when he texts Jeffrey the good news.

Within a few minutes of being in his room, his bedroom door is flying open and Jeffrey bursts in, a big smile on his face. “She really said yes?!”

Grinning, Alex nods as he races over to Jeffrey. “Yeah. She wasn’t happy but I countered every single one of her points and she gave me permission. She laid out strict rules but I can follow them.”

Letting out a joyful laugh, Jeffrey grabs him in a tight hug and Alex clings to him as they jostle each other, both excited about having overcome this hurtle. But now that he has permission to, Alex’s excitement quickly vanished when he realized he actually has to do what he’d asked permission to do: make a video of him carving something.

Maybe Jeffrey can sense his tension because he pulls back and frowns at him. “What? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Alex makes a face. “It is...but I’m nervous.”

Jeffrey smiles and kisses him hard. “Don’t be. You’re a professional at talking to people. They might be on the other side of the screen but that doesn’t matter.”

“But that’s the problem. I can talk to people when I’m being Prince Alexander but this is an Alex thing.”

“Then just pretend you’re teaching me or the Grand Duke how to do whatever you’re demonstrating. But instead of looking at me, you’re looking into a camera.”

Sighing softly, Alex presses his lips together. “Will you help me?”

Jeffrey chuckles. “Of course!” Then Jeffrey’s smile turns into a smirk. “In fact, because it’s Sunday...I have the perfect way to get you to relax.”

Arousal instantly simmers through him and Alex’s cock stiffens in the cage, as eager as it always is on Sundays after a week of being deprived. “What did you have in mind?”

His dom’s smirk turns dirtier. “I’m going to remove the cage and suck you off. Then you’ll be relaxed enough to focus on doing your video but you won’t be exhausted. But if you enjoy the rest of your afternoon, then I’ll give you a nice, hard spanking tonight.” Then Jeffrey raises his eyebrows. “But I wanna make it clear that the video tutorials are supposed to be fun. If you’re really struggling and you don’t wanna do it, then you don’t have to. I want you to have fun today and it doesn’t matter to me how you do it. You’ll get your reward if you have a good time, no matter what you do.”

Alex grins, heat shivering through him. Not only is he excited that he’ll get his usual Sunday rewards but it really warms his heart that Jeffrey’s going to help him with his new idea and that Jeffrey will be happy with him even if Alex changes his mind about the video thing.

Jeffrey smiles at him and kisses him softly. “Okay?”

Nodding, Alex clasps his hands behind his back. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Get your pants off and put a towel on your desk. You’re gonna sit on the desk and I’m gonna strap your hands and feet down so you’ll stay nice and still while I sit on your chair and take my time sucking you off. Then we’ll cuddle in bed while we talk about what you wanna do for your first tutorial.”

Grinning, Alex hurries off to his bedroom, his hands already fumbling at his pants.

* * *

He’s so nervous that he’s glad he and Jeffrey had practiced his lines because he manages to get through them while his brain is busy freaking out. It reminds him of how nervous he used to get when he’d started making speeches in public and he hates everything about it.

Jeffrey makes a face as he stands on the other side of the carving table, staring into Alex’s phone that’s balanced on a stack of old ice carving books that are serving as a tripod.

When Alex is finished going through his introductory speech, he reaches down for the little ice block they’d prepared for his first video, but he notices the red light on his phone has turned off and Jeffrey’s sighing.

“Stop, stop, stop.”

Alex frowns. “What? I didn’t screw up my lines.”

Jeffrey’s face twists with displeasure. “That’s the problem. Come look.”

Stepping around the table, Alex watches as Jeffrey grabs his phone and replays what he’d recorded. At first, Alex is only paying attention to the script lines and he confirms that yes, he got it all right. He can’t figure out what Jeffrey’s problem is until he watches it a second time and that’s when he notices.

His smile isn’t genuine. It’s the bland, polite smile he uses when he’s in public or talking to strangers. He’s standing stiffly with his hands clasped together in front of him as if he’s meeting random people during an engagement. His tone is also way too formal and stiff. There’s nothing wrong with any of it...but this is Prince Alexander and that’s not who Alex wants to be during these videos.

He sighs softly. “That’s not good.”

“Nope,” Jeffrey mumbles. “You accidentally left your crown on.”

Alex scrubs his hands over his face. His orgasm from earlier did calm him down, but it seems he needs something more to get comfortable being in front of a camera as himself. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“I know something that’ll help a little bit.” Reaching up, Jeffrey undoes his bowtie and pulls it off, draping it over the table behind him. He follows that up by undoing the top buttons on his shirt and taking off his white gloves. He’s wearing his red jacket, but it’s hidden beneath the dark jacket he always wears in the shop. The small changes instantly change Jeffrey from looking like a butler to looking like Alex’s friend, who is here to support him.

It does help a little bit, but not enough. “I don’t know how to be myself in front of a camera. I’ve spent my whole life being a Prince in front of a camera.” It’s an annoying and silly problem and Alex is frustrated that such a stupid thing is holding him back.

Jeffrey smiles softly and grabs his hand, squeezing it hard. “Stop being so hard on yourself. You’ll get used to it, but I think we have trick your brain to get started. Just pretend you’re making a video for me. I’m going to take this video and use it when I’m doing my own carving practice. You’re talking to me, nobody else. And let’s forget about the script. Just talk as if you’re talking to me and teaching me how to carve something. We can always edit the video and take out some lines if you don’t like them or if you wander off topic.”

Alex takes a deep breath as he squeezes Jeffrey’s hand back. “Just pretend I’m talking to you?”

“Yeah. Just like we’re doing now. You’re going to teach me how to turn that small ice block into a cool little dice.”

Smiling, Alex feels his confidence coming back. “Okay, let’s try this again.”

Releasing his hand, Jeffrey takes his phone back and gets set up again. “Go whenever you’re ready, we’ll edit out any long pauses or any other mistakes. Don’t worry about it.”

Alex stares at the camera, but then he slightly shifts his gaze so he’s staring at Jeffrey right behind the camera. It probably looks a bit odd and it’s going against his training, but as long as Alex is looking at Jeffrey, he can pretend he’s talking to him.

Once the red light turns on in his peripheral vision, Alex keeps his eyes on Jeffrey and reminds himself he’s making a video just for Jeffrey which he can use later to create his very own dice ice sculpture. Lifting his hand, he waves. “Hello! It’s Alex here. Welcome to my first ice carving tutorial! Some of you have asked me to demonstrate how I make some of my ice sculptures so I thought I’d share some of my techniques and tricks. Today we’re going to start with a very simple sculpture: we’re gonna make dice out of small blocks of ice.”

Alex lifts up his gloves and safety glasses. It still feels awkward to be talking to a camera without slipping into his Prince persona, but he’s gradually getting more comfortable. “The first thing we always have to do when working with ice is put on gloves and safety glasses. That’s very important. So I’m gonna put on my gloves and safety glasses…here we go...okay, and now you’d go to the freezer to take out your ice block. I already have mine here….see?” He lifts the small ice cube. “I made this using an ice cube tray. I have big ice block making machines but you don’t have to use those. You can just use small trays and other molds you have around the house. To make things easy, this ice cube is already close to cube shape so we just need to do a little work getting the shape perfect before we make the dice dots on each surface.”

The more he talks to Jeffrey, the more relaxed he gets and the bigger Jeffrey’s smile gets. It doesn’t feel like he’s putting on an act or representing anybody except himself. The further along he goes, the more he loosens up and the smile that slowly spreads over his face is completely genuine.

* * *

Once they’re finished filming, they decide they’ve done enough work for one day and Alex gets his spanking reward, which is a wonderful way to end his Sunday. During the week, he and Jeffrey spend time editing the video before Alex finally posts it to his social media account.

He’s not expecting much of a reaction but he’s blown away when the hit counter on the video shoots up even higher than his normal picture posts do. Part of him knows that some of the hits are from fan girls and fan boys who are only watching the video to drool over him and they don’t care what he’s saying, but based on the encouraging and grateful comments he gets from some people, it seems people do like the video.

Within a few days, he even gets messaged from people who share their little ice cube dice that they’d made and some people even send him videos of playing real games with their ice cube dice.

The response blows Alex away and he’s thrilled with it. He and Jeffrey often text each other during the day when they check the hit count and comments on the video and their texts are mostly just long strings of happy faces along with the hit count or a specific comment.

His grandpa is equally excited and when Alex visits him on Saturday and he insists on watching the video instead of playing their usual card game.

“I only wish the arthritis in my hands weren’t so bad or I’d try making some of these ice cube dice. They look wonderful and the video was so easy to follow,” his grandpa tells him once the video has finished.

Alex hasn’t stopped smiling all week and he shares a grin with Jeffrey, who’s standing next to the couch with his hands clasped behind his back as he’d listened to the video for the millionth time.

“Thanks, grandpa. I’m happy you liked it.”

“Liked it? I think it’s wonderful! You did a fantastic job and clearly, other people are responding well. I think this was a great idea. Do you know what you’re going to do next?”

“Yeah, Jeffrey and I have put together a whole list of ideas already. The next episode will be a triangle shape and the one after that will be a heart shape. That’ll let people get used to working with a small chisel and the heart will introduce rounded shapes. Then we can start doing more complicated things.”

His grandpa’s eyes are shining. “I’m very proud of you.” Then he directs a smile at Jeffrey too. “I’m proud of you too. Alex told me you did most of the editing and cheerleading work. I’m happy you’re working on this together and I’m especially happy you’re both having fun.”

* * *

Their second episode ends up being just as successful as the first and Alex falls in love with the project more every day. It’s wonderful getting to share his hobby with the world but he’s getting to share it as himself, not Prince Alexander. For the first time, he’s showing who he is while he’s interacting with the public. He doesn’t have to worry about negatively impacting the monarchy’s reputation because he’s in complete control over the content of his videos and he can ignore any rude comments that would normally lead to security concerns if they happened in real life.

The best part is that Jeffrey continues to be his supportive partner. He helps brainstorm episode ideas, figures out what camera angles to use, helps with the editing and most importantly, he’s there for every single episode and smiling proudly behind the camera. They don’t make new episodes every single week but Alex loves the routine that his Sundays fall into. Their morning starts out by watching Jeffrey play hockey, they come home and Alex gets his first orgasm reward of the day, then they spend time in the workshop either making a video or just chatting while Alex works on a carving and then it’s time for Alex’s big reward in the form of a long, intense play session. The day always ends with his cage being locked back on him and that act beautifully closes out their week and mentally sets both of them up for the work week ahead.

As the success of the episodes continues to climb, Alex becomes more and more involved with the ice carving community. He starts watching other ice carving tutorials and recommending videos to his viewers and he’s always looking for new ideas online. But some of his viewers start telling him that they have a hard time doing the more complex projects because they can’t afford proper chisels and ice picks. Alex had determined from the start that he’d try to keep his videos as accessible as possible so he only uses traditional hand carving methods and he’d been embarrassed to admit to Jeffrey that he has no idea how much any of his equipment costs.

Once he figures out that a lot of people don’t have ice carving tools lying around, he becomes determined to solve this problem. He calls several hardwood stores in Neige and other places around Hiveria and convinces them to offer discounts on basic ice carving tools in exchange for Alex recommending their stores on his social media account. He’s not making any money off the transactions so it’s not breaking protocol but his students eagerly take advantage of the opportunity and he gets lots of happy comments from parents, children and random people who always wanted to do try ice carving but couldn’t afford the basic tools to get started.

Lying in bed with Jeffrey while reading through of those comments, Alex shoots Jeffrey a smile. “Somebody else loves their new chisel from the hardware store. She’s an older woman and she’s always wanted to try ice carving. She’s going to make the chess pieces from last week’s video but she’s going to make a full set.”

Jeffrey’s scrolling through his own phone, reading some hockey news, but he grins and reaches for Alex’s phone. After reading the message, his grins grows bigger. “That’s so sweet! I can’t believe the woman’s over seventy.” Lowering the phone, Jeffrey’s smile softens as he stares at Alex. “I’m so damn proud of you. I know you do wonderful things for people all the time and in terms of charity work, this is pretty small, but...”

Alex smiles. “But I’m not doing it as a member of the Royal Family. I’m doing it as normal Alex Wallace and that feels even better than anything I’ve ever done for the monarchy. Not that I don’t love those other things, but this feels different.”

Jeffrey grins and drops their phones as he pushes Alex down on his back and leans over him, kissing him hard and rubbing their noses together. “It’s different because you’re amazing as a Prince but you’re even more amazing when you’re not wearing your crown.”

His heart glowing, Alex leans up and kisses him. There’s no doubt that the reason Alex has come so far and feels so comfortable doing it is because Jeffrey has always loved Alex first and Prince Alexander a distance second. “I love you so damn much.”

His smile softening, Jeffrey kisses him back. “I love you too.”


	15. Chapter 15

Three months later, things are still going fantastic between them. The video tutorials are still very popular and they both love making them. Jeffrey’s hockey games also continue being a constant part of their weekly routine and it’s those hockey games that provide them with yet another step forward in their relationship.

It all happens when Alex notices that Jeffrey’s hockey gear is getting worn. He’d noticed that Jeffrey’s hockey bag and some of his equipment isn’t in the best shape anymore but he always thought Jeffrey hadn’t gotten replacements due to a sentimental attachment to those things or maybe it’s a hockey culture thing? But then there’s the day where Jeffrey has to stop playing halfway through a game because his stick breaks. When Alex sends him a text message asking why he’s not going to get another stick, Jeffrey patiently replies that he doesn’t have one and he’ll have to wait until his next pay cheque to get a new one.

That doesn’t sit right with Alex and he confronts Jeffrey as soon as they’re back home. “Why didn’t you tell me you don’t have a spare stick? I can buy you a million sticks, you know that.”

Jeffrey gives him a look. “It’s not your responsibility to fund my hobby.”

Alex frowns. “Well, obviously not. But I want to.”

Jeffrey stares at him for a long moment, but he’s chewing on his lip and he doesn’t look happy about this, which isn’t how Alex had hoped this conversation would go. “I’d only agree if we do the same thing we do with the anti-STI meds. You buy it and I’ll pay you back in small increments.”

That makes Alex’s frown deepen. “But this isn’t the same thing.”

“It’s exactly the same thing. You’re buying me something that I can’t afford right now but it’s not your responsibility to buy those things. You’re basically giving me a loan.”

Resisting the urge to grumble with frustration, Alex shoves Jeffrey flat on his bed and crawls on top of him, frowning down. “The hockey sticks would be a present, not a loan.”

“I don’t feel right making you spend money on me.”

Alex snorts. “You’re not making me do anything. I want to buy my boyfriend hockey sticks as a present. And a new helmet because my boyfriend’s visor is cracked. And a new hockey bag because the zipper stopped working on your old bag and it’s a pain in your butt. And it’s my money and I’ll be really sad if I’m not allowed to use that money to buy my boyfriend presents.” He sticks his lower lip out in a pout, hoping that will seal the deal.

Jeffrey bursts out laughing and tangles a hand in Alex’s hair and pulls him down for a kiss. “Okay, fine.”

A grin spreads over Alex’s face. “I’m allowed to buy my boyfriend presents?”

“Yes, you are. But don’t you dare overdo it or I’ll donate everything to charity.”

Alex laughs and nuzzles Jeffrey’s face. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

Sighing, Jeffrey stares at him, his eyes twinkling and a soft smile on his lips. “You always are.”

“Uh huh. But I like proving it to you every chance I get.”

A grin spreads over Jeffrey’s face and he slides his hands down Alex’s back to his ass and slips his hands past the waistband of his pants and underwear. “I’m thinking you’ll get a chance right now.”

Wiggling eagerly, Alex grins and dives down for a kiss.

* * *

Another small change that’s been introduced to their routine is that the Grand Duke’s schedule has been reduced slightly and Gary continues struggling with fatigue and keeping up with the pace of Alex’s schedule. But Alex refuses to complain about it because he’s too loyal to Gary and Jeffrey loves picking up Gary’s slack when it comes to preparing for Alex’s engagements with him. Since the Grand Duke’s schedule has decreased a bit, Jeffrey has time to do it and it’s not only fun but he likes knowing that he’s helping Alex do his job well.

But everything changes when Mrs. Gutierrez sends Jeffrey a message, requesting his presence in her office to discuss an important matter after he’s done with his dinner. Being summed into a meeting with her is unusual but Jeffrey isn’t worried. His performance has been perfect, his relationship with Alex hasn’t impacted his duties or Alex’s at all and if anybody knows that they’re sleeping together, that knowledge is being kept quiet.

Standing in front of Mrs. Gutierrez’s desk, he keeps his hands clasped behind his back while she finishes sorting through some papers.

Finally, she looks up. “Mr. Larson.”

He bows his head respectfully. “Mrs. Gutierrez.”

“I wanted to speak to you about an important change in your duties.”

Blinking, Jeffrey manages to catch his frown before it can cross his face. Except for the slight decrease in the Grand Duke’s schedule over the last few months, nothing has changed. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Gary has informed me that he feels he’s unable to continue with Prince Alexander’s schedule. He’s nearing retirement and as you know, being out in the cold weather and keeping up with nearly 300 engagements is too much for someone of his age.”

None of that is news to Jeffrey, but he’s curious how they’re going to address it. Will they promote one of the junior butlers and assign them to Alex? Since it’s expected that Alex’s workload will start increasing as he gets closer to his promotion to Duke, this isn’t a good time to assign a new butler to him who lacks the experience Gary has. But it’s not his place to point out such things, so he stays quiet.

“As you’re well aware, the Prince is going to be expected to take on a bigger workload over the next few years. Gary isn’t confident that he can keep up and he’s requested to be assigned to someone with a lighter schedule.”

That all makes sense, but it still doesn’t answer why Mrs. Gutierrez is telling Jeffrey about this.

“In addition, Grand Duke Reginald has also requested that his schedule continues to be decreased. As you know, we’ve already made adjustments but we feel it would be appropriate to move him down to 200 engagements or less per year.”

Jeffrey’s heart sinks. While this is what the Grand Duke needs and he’s earned the right to slowly head into retirement, Jeffrey hates the thought of his own work duties decreasing in such a big way. He loves keeping up with a busy schedule and rather than stress him out, it’s always invigorated him. But that’s what’s best for the Grand Duke’s health and well being, so Jeffrey will continue to support him, even once the Grand Duke stops doing public engagements completely.

“The only way we can quickly accommodate such a change in the Grand Duke’s schedule is to transfer the extra engagements onto somebody who has room in their schedule and has the experience to handle it. The Grand Empress and I have come to the conclusion that Prince Alexander is the best candidate. We feel he’s ready to handle more engagements even before he becomes a Duke.”

Now Jeffrey’s really feeling torn. He’s bursting with pride at the confidence the Grand Empress and Mrs. Gutierrez have displayed for Alex and he knows Alex will love taking on a heavier schedule, especially if it’s to help the Grand Duke. The fact that Jeffrey will have to contend with a slower schedule is something he’ll have to put up with. Just like he’ll have to deal with Alex being assigned a new butler who may not meet Jeffrey’s standards.

“Due to this change, we’ve decided the best course of action would be to swap you and Gary.”

Freezing, Jeffrey blinks at her as his thoughts grind to a halt. Did she just say…

Is she seriously saying…

His heart starts pounding and he has to clench his jaw so he doesn’t burst into a grin. Is she really saying he can be Alex’s butler?! With a full schedule?!

She seems oblivious to his excitement as she continues staring at him with her impassive expression. “We believe this would be the best solution. You’re still in your prime and you have the experience and energy to help His Royal Highness transition into a full schedule. It’s pointless to keep you assigned to the Grand Duke as he heads towards retirement. Assigning Gary to the Grand Duke will provide both of them the slower pace they require and will allow Gary to serve out the remainder of his career.”

She’s really saying he’s going to be Alex’s butler! But...how long? It’s a struggle unclenching his jaw and he has to take a deep breath so his voice doesn’t shake. “How long will I be assigned to His Royal Highness, ma’am?”

That’s when she raises her eyes from her papers and gives him a hard look and that immediately quells some of Jeffrey’s excitement. He knows what she’s going to say before she says it. “We would like to make the change permanent. We believe the two of you would be a good fit and since you’re both the same age, it makes perfect sense to make you a team now rather than later. You have experience serving senior Royals and dealing with a heavy engagement schedule.” Then her eyes get harder. “However. Given your personal association with His Royal Highness, I’m going to be keeping a very close eye on you. The rules are always going to remain the same. If your personal relationship interferes with your duties, you’ll be terminated. The Prince will require the guidance and support of a professional and you’ll need to maintain those standards.”

That’s when Jeffrey’s excitement comes rushing back because he already knows he can do this. This will be a dream come true! He’ll get to spend more time with Alex but he’ll also get to help Alex on his journey towards becoming a Duke. Hopefully, he’ll get to be part of Alex’s journey until they both retire from public service and even then, Jeffrey will drag his old, shaky body down to the kitchen to get Alex his meals because serving Alex for the rest of his life is a dream come true.

He takes another shaky breath. “I won’t let you down, ma’am. I won’t let any of you down, I promise.”

Her jaw shifts slightly. “I know. I was the one who reassured the Grand Empress that you can handle this change professionally and that you’ll perform your new duties with the same devotion and perfection that you’ve done for the last ten years.”

That takes Jeffrey by surprise and his heart glows with pride. He’s only been focused on how wonderful it’ll be to become Alex’s full time butler, but he’s forgotten about the fact that he’s being given a role that will allow him to guide a junior member of the Royal Family as he rises up the ranks and earns his place as a senior member of the Hiverian Royal Family. That’s an honor which is only bestowed on a butler who has earned the trust of the Royal Family and that takes his breath away. “Thank you for this honor, ma’am. I’m truly humbled that you’re giving me this opportunity and I’ll fulfill my duties with the same loyalty and precision I always have.”

Mrs. Gutierrez stares at him for a long moment before giving him a nod. “Good. You’re dismissed.”

Now that he’s been dismissed and it’s time to tell Alex the good news, he starts shaking again and it’s very difficult to bow his head properly and make his way out of her office and down the hallway with the decorum that’s expected of him, but he manages. As he hurries towards Alex’s room and frantically texts him, asking if he’s finished dinner yet.

Instead of answering, Alex flings open his door and steps into the hallway, smiling ear to ear. “Yes, I finished dinner and yes, I just got the news.”

Freaking out in the hallway would be unprofessional so Jeffrey quickly ushers them inside and slams the door shut before he’s shoving Alex against it and kissing him hard as Alex clings to him.

“I’m gonna be your butler,” Jeffrey mumbles against his lips, trembling from excitement.

Alex grins as he kisses him. “I know! I couldn’t believe it when Gary told me,” he mumbles between kisses. “It didn’t even sink in at first. I was just glad Gary’s going to be assigned to grandpa and they can both finally take the break they deserve.”

Alex pulls back and presses his forehead against Jeffrey’s, his eyes shining. “Then I realized this means I’ll get to see you almost 24 hours a day and I got so excited that I almost hugged Gary and thanked him. That would have been rude and weird, but I think it would have been understandable.”

It’s so hard to breathe as images flood Jeffrey’s head—bringing Alex his meals, helping him dress for engagements, being in the car with him, helping him during engagements, helping him prep for engagements. It’s going to be wonderful and so damn exciting, but it’ll so be a lot of work.

Drawing back a bit further, Jeffrey raises an eyebrow at Alex. “Do you realize how much work going from 300 engagements a year to 450 will be? And it won’t just be for a few months or a few years. This is going to be our lives for the next fifty years.”

Alex laughs, sounding delighted. “Yeah, until we’re granted mercy just like Gary and grandpa are now.” He grabs Jeffrey’s chin and smacks a hard kiss on his lips. “I know it’ll be a lot of work and I’m honestly terrified of having to meet your standards, but I’m so damn excited. I want to be a senior Royal, I want to become a Duke, most importantly, I want to make all of you proud and make myself proud.”

Jeffrey chuckles, flooded with excitement. “You’re gonna do all those things and I promise, I’m gonna help you with it.” He grabs the back of Alex’s neck and squeezes gently as he kisses him. “You’re gonna be the most beloved member of the Royal Family in the entire monarchy’s history and you’re also gonna be the happiest. That’s my promise to you,” he whispers against Alex’s lips, meaning every word.

Letting out a delighted laugh, Alex wraps his arms around him and presses his face into Jeffrey’s neck, nuzzling his stiff collar. “And I’m going to make you the proudest and happiest butler that’s ever existed. But I’m also going to make you the proudest and happiest Jeffrey you can possibly be.”

Grinning, Jeffrey tangles his gloved hand in Alex’s hair and kisses his temple as he reaches down and slides his hand into Alex’s pants, squeezing his ass. “You’re already doing the last part and I know you’ll do the first part too.”

Alex makes a happy sound against his neck and jostles them around. “I’ve never been this excited and terrified in my life.”

Laughing, Jeffrey pulls his hand out of his pants and smacks his ass hard, which makes Alex moan against his neck. Tomorrow the hard work will start as Gary and Jeffrey begin their transition and the Engagements Coordinators will being moving engagements from the Grand Duke’s schedule over to Alex’s. Jeffrey’s unbelievably excited about the huge amount of work ahead of them, but tonight, he wants to celebrate. “Come on, we need to celebrate our new work relationship.”

* * *

The whole situation is so damn exciting that Jeffrey doesn’t encounter the one sad part of the situation until he’s bringing the Grand Duke his breakfast the next morning.

Through all the excitement, it had never dawned on him that if he’s serving Alex, he won’t be attending to the Grand Duke any longer. He won’t get to see the old man’s sunny smile every morning, he won’t struggle to stop himself from laughing at his jokes and he won’t be part of the Grand Duke’s daily life any more. He’s been serving the Grand Duke for four years and the realization that he won’t get to regularly see him after the transition leaves his heart aching.

The Grand Duke must see that Jeffrey’s struggling because he lowers his utensils and shoots him a smile. “Normally I’d ask you why you’re trying to hide your sad frown, but I think I know.”

Jeffrey sighs softly. “I’m very excited about the upcoming change, sir. It’s a wonderful opportunity and I’m so honored that I was chosen, but I wish I could continue serving you as well.”

The old man turns in his chair and smiles up at him. “Gary will take care of me just as well as you did. I’ll make sure of it.”

“It’s not just that, sir. It’ll be strange not seeing you as often.”

The Grand Duke frowns in confusion. But before Jeffrey can clarify that of course, he knows he’ll see the Grand Duke during large Royal events and the few joint engagements he’ll still do with Alex, the old man surprises him. “Well, at the very least, you’ll see me on Saturdays when I go to Alex’s quarters to play cards.”

Jeffrey frowns because that’s not how the routine goes. “Prince Alexander usually comes here, sir.”

“Yes, but I think a change would be good. There are two reasons for it. First, I don’t want Gary having extra work by attending to me on Saturday evenings and it would take a lot of arguing to convince him that Alex and I can fend for ourselves. But second, I’m hoping if I come to Alex to play cards, I won’t just get to spend time with my grandson, but also with my grandson’s boyfriend, who I care about very deeply.”

Blinking, Jeffrey stares at him in shock. He would have been happy to attend to the Grand Duke in Alex’s quarters during their card games, like he’s always done. But the Grand Duke is suggesting something else. “You’re saying you’d like me attend your weekly card games, but not as His Royal Highness’ butler?”

The Grand Duke smiles softly. “Only if you’re comfortable doing that. If it makes you feel better to continue our old routine, then you can serve myself and Alex while we play as we’ve done for years. But I don’t need you to serve me during our card games and I’m sure Alex feels the same way. I would love the chance to spend time with you. I think this change in our work relationship has the potential to allow us to develop a new, more personal relationship. But only if you feel comfortable doing that.”

Jeffrey stares at him. His initial reaction is that the idea seems inappropriate. But the Grand Duke’s right—if Jeffrey’s no longer serving the Grand Duke, then he should be fine with him coming to play cards with him every Saturday. It won’t be the Grand Duke coming to play cards with Prince Alexander; it’ll be Alex’s grandfather coming to spend time with Alex. And it seems the Grand Duke is eager to create a relationship with Jeffrey that’s different from their current work relationship. His stomach still twists at the awkwardness he feels about it, but Jeffrey’s determined to push through. He wants to continue interacting with this wonderful man who he had come to know so well over the last four years, especially because he’s one of the most important people in both his and Alex’s lives.

Taking a shaky breath, Jeffrey smiles. “I’m not completely comfortable with that idea, sir, but I’m very interested in becoming more comfortable with it.”

The Grand Duke’s face lights up in a delighted smile. “Then we’ll work on it together.” His eyes are sparkling and he looks overjoyed. “Thank you, Jeffrey. It really saddened me to think that this upcoming change would result in you disappearing from my life completely, so it means the world to me that you’re willing to try.”

“That saddened me too, sir. That’s why I’m eager to see if we can adjust our relationship.”

“I have no doubt that we can do it.” Then he turns back to his breakfast. “Alright, let’s get back to it. The public awaits.”

* * *

During the course of the transition, Jeffrey decides he wants to give Alex a present when everything’s finally done and they embark on their new professional lives together. He wants it to be a present that’s very personal but he also wants it to be something that Alex will hopefully cherish for a long time to come. It takes him a few days to come up with a good idea because he’s lacking the funds to buy Alex something expensive and he wants the present to be ready for their first big day together.

He comes up with the perfect idea when he’s about leave Alex’s room one morning and Alex is blinking up at him sleepily, lying sprawled out in bed and only wearing his cock cage and the black leather collar around his neck. While the cage can accompany Alex anywhere he goes, the collar can’t and that gives Jeffrey the perfect gift idea.

It requires a trip to a craft store and some hours of secret work, but he manages to get it done before the transition is fully underway and he loses all of his spare time. He carefully hides the present in his bedside table, thinking that he’ll give it to Alex after they finish their first official day of engagements together. It’ll be perfect!

* * *

As Jeffrey had predicted, the transition ends up being enormously stressful but both Alex and Jeffrey are determined to make the change as quickly and smoothly as possible so both Gary and the Grand Duke can get to their semi-retirement stages as quickly as possible.

And finally, the big day arrives. It’s both strange and really exciting when Jeffrey’s alarm rings at 4:30 and he gets out of Alex’s bed following their usual routine for a Monday morning...but this time, he’ll be coming right back to Alex’s room when he’s finished his breakfast.

Alex is smiling sleepily from his pillow. “I can’t believe it’s Monday but I’ll get to see you in 3 hours.”

Excitement makes Jeffrey’s heart skip a beat and he bends over Alex to kiss him and rub their noses together. “I know, I can’t wait! And it won’t just be today...but every Monday from now on.”

Chuckling, Alex sighs happily and rubs his nose against Jeffrey’s cheek.

Jeffrey kisses him on the forehead and brushes Alex’s hair off his forehead. “Gonna be my good boy and get some more hours of sleep before our busy day together?”

Alex’s grin grows bigger and he’s beaming. “Yes, sir.”

“When we come back for lunch, we’ll practice your Wednesday speech again, okay? But if you’re a good boy through all of it, I’ll play with your cock for a bit before we have to go to our afternoon engagement.” Although he’s trying to stay serious as he says it, Jeffrey can’t help the smile that’s spread over his face.

Giggling sleepily, Alex smirks at him. “I’ll be a very good boy, sir. I promise.”

Laughing, Jeffrey kisses him on the forehead again. He can’t wait to surprise Alex with his gift tonight! “I love you,” he whispers.

Alex moans softly and rubs his nose against Jeffrey’s cheek. “I love you too. Go get more sleep and have a good breakfast.”

Pulling back, Jeffrey hurries to get dressed and he sneaks down his room and quickly gets undressed before he’s falling back into bed for a few more hours of sleep. That’s the normal part of their routine, but after his alarm rings again and he gets dressed, he carefully slips Alex’s present into his pocket.

Then he’s off to have his breakfast and then it’s time to go into the kitchen and for the first time, he doesn’t pick up the tray labeled ‘Grand Duke Reginald’. The Grand Duke’s tray is still sitting there and it makes Jeffrey’s gut twist with a bit of sadness, but he stays focused on the positives. Gary will bring the Grand Duke his breakfast and the two of them will have nice, leisurely morning until they have to attend the Grand Duke’s solo engagement of the day. But Jeffrey needs to stay on track because Alex’s schedule doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room. That’s exactly how things should be, given the various ages of the people involved.

He nearly bursts into a grin as he picks up the tray labeled ‘Prince Alexander’ and he keeps his face impassive as he carefully walks out of the kitchen and up to Alex’s room to bring him breakfast for the first time.

Letting himself into Alex’s room, he brings the heavy tray to Alex’s table and quickly gets everything set up properly. He’s in the middle of shaking out Alex’s napkin when Alex slowly saunters into the room, dressed in the casual clothes he wears while at home.

For a moment, Jeffrey freezes with indecision. On one hand, he’d love to run over and greet Alex with a hug and kiss and ask him if he’d slept a bit more after Jeffrey had left. Alex’s present is pressing against his thigh where it’s sitting in his pocket. But on the other hand...he’s here as the Prince’s butler. There are certain protocols which should be followed. But engaging in those protocols when it’s just the two of them would be a very strange change to their dynamic.

Alex had been smiling as he’d walked closer to Jeffrey, but his smile gradually fades. “What’s wrong?”

“I...” Jeffrey stares at him. He should be bowing respectfully and greeting the Prince properly, but that’s not how they do things. If Jeffrey goes back to treating Alex like a Prince when they’re in his quarters, that’ll change everything.

Alex frowns as he stares at Jeffrey’s stiff posture and panicked expression. “Hey. Did you sleep after you left?”

Jeffrey keeps gaping at him, not knowing what to do. “I...yes, thank you, sir.”

The word makes Alex’s jaw clench and he blinks a few times as they stare at each other. Jeffrey realizes they should have foreseen this difficulty and addressed it beforehand but they didn’t and now they’re faced with a bucket of awkwardness.

Finally, Alex lets out a shaky breath and gets a stubborn look on his face as he grabs Jeffrey’s face and kisses him hard. “No. Don’t do that. Please, please, _please_ don’t do that.”

“We’re at work,” Jeffrey whispers. “The rules are very clear when we’re both at work.”

“The rules are clear when we’re working _around other people_. When it’s just the two of us, I don’t want anything to change.” His voice is shaking and Alex stares at him imploringly, his hands tight on Jeffrey’s face. “Please,” he whispers.

Jeffrey wants to give in so badly, but it’s not right. “If we start making exceptions, there’s a bigger chance we’ll screw up when we’re in front of other people.”

Alex gives him an unimpressed look. “We’ve been together for more than half a year and we haven’t screwed up.” Then Alex’s face gets scared again. “Please don’t force me to be a Prince when we’re at home and it’s just the two of us. I want to be Alex and Jeffrey. Equals except when you want to be my dom.”

Hearing how scared Alex sounds makes Jeffrey’s heart twist because he realizes he’s being an idiot. Why is he making such a fuss about this?! He’s been helping Alex prep for engagements for weeks and they’ve always done that as equals; two work colleagues sitting on Alex’s bed. That hadn’t been following protocol either, but it had felt so right.

And this—calling Alex ‘sir’ while standing next to the same table on which he’s fucked Alex countless time; keeping such a distance between them while just a few hours ago, he’d been sleeping in bed next to him—it feels wrong. Thinking about it, Jeffrey realizes why it feels so strange. Alex is being Alex right now but Jeffrey’s being a butler first and Jeffrey second. That’s not what either of them want or need. When they’re around other people, they’ll stay in their professional roles just like they did during the banquet or whenever Alex has come on joint engagements with Jeffrey and the Grand Duke.

Clenching his jaw with determination, Jeffrey tosses the napkin onto the table, grabs Alex’s chin and kisses him firmly before pulling him into his arms and holding him tightly against his stiff, red uniform jacket. Feeling the tension that’s running through Alex makes Jeffrey’s heart ache. “I’m sorry. I freaked out a bit and defaulted to what’s natural. I’ve never brought you breakfast before and I got confused. But you’re right. When we’re in here, we’re Jeffrey and Alex. Same as always. That’s how it’ll always be.”

“Promise?” Alex whispers against his shirt collar as he clings to him.

Jeffrey pulls back and hardens his face as he puts on his dom expression. Seeing it instantly makes Alex relax a bit but Jeffrey wants to drive the point home. He decides to give Alex his present now, rather than waiting until the evening. It’ll still be a present to mark their first official working day together but hopefully, it’ll help prove to Alex that Jeffrey’s committed to keeping their relationship the way they both want it.

“I have a present for you,” he says.

That makes Alex smile, but he still looks worried. “You didn’t have to get me a present.”

“I know, but I wanted to. I was going to give it to you tonight once our first day together is officially done, but I changed my mind. I wanna give it to you now.”

Alex’s smile brightens, but he’s still tense. “Okay.”

Reaching into his pocket, Jeffrey carefully pulls out the gift and holds it up. It’s a handmade necklace that he’d made out of different colored embroidery thread and a silver snowflake ornament hanging in the center. Jeffrey had chosen silver, white and light blue threads, which are the Hiverian colors. The snowflake isn’t actually made out of silver, but it’s still pretty and he’d spent ages deciding which of the store’s snowflake charms to pick.

Alex’s hesitant smile blooms into a big grin and he looks thrilled. “Oh, it’s our colors! And the snowflake is so nice. It’s Hiveria from top to bottom and it’s beautiful! Where’d you buy it?”

Jeffrey smiles back, feeling a bit smug that his handmade creation looks nice enough to fool Alex into thinking he’d bought it. “I didn’t. I made it myself.” Then he adds on the other part of the present. “It’s a day collar. I know you love wearing your leather collar, but it’s too bulky for you to wear during the day. I figured this is discreet enough that you can keep it under your shirt. Even if somebody sees it, they’ll think it’s only connected to Hiveria.”

Alex’s eyes widen and he stares at Jeffrey. “You made me a collar?” His voice is soft.

Alex’s reaction seems to be positive, but Jeffrey wants to make sure they’re on the same page. “You don’t have to wear it all the time. You don’t have to wear it at all, if you don’t like it. I just thought—”

He stops talking when Alex sinks to his knees, his eyes glued to the light glinting off the silver snowflake gently swaying from the necklace. “Please put it on me,” he mumbles, his eyes huge.

Adrenaline floods through him and Jeffrey slowly bends down and carefully loops the necklace around Alex’s neck and closes the small clasps at the back. Alex has clasped his hands behind his back and he’s staring down at the necklace, shaking a bit.

Reaching down, Jeffrey lifts his chin and studies him carefully. Alex looks overwhelmed and happy, but maybe it’s only temporary. “I wanna make it clear that you control this collar. You can decide when to take it on or off.”

Alex frantically shakes his head. “I won’t. I—I want to wear it. I can’t believe...” He lets out a shaky breath and grins up at Jeffrey. “I can’t believe my dom gave me a collar. And not just any collar, but you made it yourself. And the colors you picked and the snowflake—you made it represent Hiveria and it’s so beautiful. My leather collar’s nothing compared to this.”

Warmth spreading through him, Jeffrey bends down and kisses Alex. “I’m glad you like it.”

It seems Alex can’t stop grinning and his eyes are sparkling. “Like it? I love it! I’m only taking it off when you tell me to or when I’m having a shower.”

Jeffrey snorts and kisses Alex again. “You can shower in it. The snowflake’s not actually silver so it’ll start rusting from your sweat anyway and the threads won’t last forever. But I’ll always make you a new one, I promise.”

Unclasping his hands, Alex wraps his arms around Jeffrey’s legs and presses his face against Jeffrey’s thighs, still shaking a bit. “Thank you,” he mumbles.

Gently rubbing the hair at the back of Alex’s head so he doesn’t mess up his hair too much, Jeffrey grins. “You’re welcome.”

Giving Alex his present early seems to have done a good job of shifting their dynamic back to what it usually is when they’re together in private, but Jeffrey glances at the clock on the wall and he realizes they have to get a move on. Rubbing Alex’s back, he straightens up. “Come on. Breakfast time. We have a schedule to keep and seeing how I already laid out your breakfast on the table, I want you eating while you’re sitting at the table, not kneeling at my feet.”

Chuckling, Alex pulls back and slowly gets to his feet, his hands playing with the silver snowflake and rubbing over the braided threads. “Yes, sir.”

But to make absolutely sure that Jeffrey won’t accidentally swing back into Butler mode until they’ve left Alex’s room, he reaches for Alex and cups his balls and the hard metal cage, which makes Alex shiver and groan. “I haven’t seen my beautifully wrapped present for a few hours. I wanna look at it while you’re eating breakfast.”

A brilliant smile stretches over Alex’s face and he releases the snowflake charm to clasp his hands behind his back. “Yes, sir.”

Quickly opening Alex’s pants, Jeffrey folds in the open flaps and pulls his underwear down far enough that he can tuck it under his balls and the cage, leaving Alex fully exposed. The silver metal of the cage is shining as brightly as the snowflake charm on his day collar. Both represent Jeffrey’s role as Alex’s dom and the control that Alex willingly hands over to him. The impact makes adrenaline rush through him, but sadly, they don’t have time to play this morning.

Making an appreciative noise, Jeffrey gently rubs the back of his fingers over the metal cage, being careful not to touch Alex’s cock through the open holes. “Oh, that’s gorgeous. My beautiful Alex.”

Then he turns back to the table and picks up the napkin. “Sit. Time for breakfast. We have a busy schedule.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex breathes out, sounding so delighted at the prospect of eating breakfast while his caged cock is on display.

Once Alex is sitting, Jeffrey carefully arranges the napkin on his lap so he can still see Alex’s caged cock before he picks up the coffee pot. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please, sir.”

Jeffrey prepares Alex a cup of coffee and finishes fussing with everything until the plates of food, coffee mug and utensils are all perfect. “Time to eat. Be my good boy and finish everything. You’ll need plenty of energy today.”

Digging into his breakfast with a big smile, Alex eagerly starts eating. While Jeffrey should step back three paces so he’s standing diagonally next to Alex, he deliberately stays right next to him as he clasps his gloved hands behind his back and watches Alex eat, letting his eyes drift up and down Alex’s body and spending extra time staring at his day collar and his caged cock. “Hmm, my gorgeous Alex.”

To anybody else, the power dynamics must look bizarre. On one hand, Jeffrey’s a butler, serving Prince Alexander breakfast. That much is clear from Jeffrey’s uniform and his position standing at attention while the Prince is eating. But beneath the surface, Jeffrey’s the one in control. He’d brought his sub breakfast, he’s put a collar on him and he’s ordered him to eat while putting him on display so his dom can leisurely stare at him. But on an even deeper level, they’re equals. No matter who appears to be in charge at the moment, they’re equals and that’s always been the foundation of their relationship and always will be.

Once Alex has finished everything on his plate, he grins up at Jeffrey. “I finished everything, sir.” He has that cheeky tone in his voice and Jeffrey can’t help but chuckle.

“Yeah, I’m not blind.” Leaning down, Jeffrey grabs Alex’s chin and kisses him. “Go get dressed or we’re gonna be late for our big first day and I refuse to let that happen.”

Laughing against his lips, Alex sneaks in one last kiss before getting up and waddling to the bedroom with his open pants while Jeffrey cleans up his breakfast dishes.

Minutes later, Alex re-appears, wearing the outfit Jeffrey had picked out for him last night and he’s carefully tucking the day collar underneath his shirt before buttoning up the top buttons. Realizing that his sub is going to spend all day walking around in public while wearing a cock cage and his collar makes Jeffrey’s heart race. Not to mention that Jeffrey’s wearing the key to that cock cage beneath his own shirt. On the outside, their clothes present very specific images to the public while their private lives are hidden beneath those clothes, staying safe and secret until they’re back home and can shed their uniforms.

Once he’s buttoned his shirt, Alex does up his tie but he’s frowning once he’s done. “I can feel it’s not centered right. Can you fix it?”

Jeffrey snorts and hurries up to him. “As if I’d let you step one foot out of the palace without making sure your damn tie’s perfect.”

Chuckling, Alex stands still while Jeffrey fixes his tie. It’s a thrill to smooth his gloved hand down the surface of the tie and feel the snowflake charm hidden beneath the layers of clothes. Alex’s grin grows when he feels Jeffrey pressing against the charm and that warmth spreads through Jeffrey again. But then it’s back to business and he steps back to study him head to toe before coming back to do minor adjustments. A few strands of Alex’s hair aren’t sitting right, which require some gently tugging and there’s a little scratch on his belt that needs to be hidden behind the belt loops, but then he’s perfect.

“Okay, you’re ready,” Jeffrey says, nodding with satisfaction.

Alex chuckles and walks back to his bedroom to get his coat while Jeffrey turns back to the breakfast tray. “I’m going down to the kitchen and I’ll meet you in the garage in five minutes. Don’t touch your tie!”

“Yes, sir!” Alex yells from the bedroom before dissolving into laughter.

Jeffrey’s grinning too, which means he has to take a moment to compose himself before he can step out into the hallway with the heavy tray. As he’s walking down to the kitchen, he’s back to feeling excited about this whole thing.

After dropping off the tray and picking up his jacket, Jeffrey heads over to the garage. Alex and his driver are already inside the car and Prakash is just getting into the passenger seat when Jeffrey appears.

“Good morning, Jeffrey! Welcome to the team.”

Jeffrey grins. “Good morning, Prakash. Thank you very much! I’m happy to be here.” And he really is.

Getting into the car beside Alex, he shoots him a smile. “Ready, Your Highness?”

Alex nods and pastes his ‘Prince’ smile on his face. “Absolutely.”

Once Jeffrey’s done up his seat belt, the driver starts the car and off they go. While they’re driving, Jeffrey scrolls through his work phone to see if there are any urgent emails he’s missed seeing this morning but he also glances at Alex. “Would you like to go over the names of the museum directors one more time, sir?”

Alex gives him that bland, polite smile and nods. “Yes, that would be good. I feel we’ve prepared sufficiently but one more revision can’t hurt.”

Pulling up the list of directors on his phone, Jeffrey picks one of the directors’ titles at random. “What is the name of the Associate Director for Development?”

“Sandra Treeger.”

“Correct. How long has she held the position?”

“Fifteen years.”

“Correct.” Jeffrey scrolls a bit further down. “What position does Colleen Waters hold and how long has she held it?”

“Assistant Director for Science.”

Jeffrey makes a face. “Not quite, sir. Try again.”

Alex bites his lip. “Oh! Associate Director for Science. Nine years.”

“Correct.”

“I’m mixing up the associates and assistants again,” he grouses, sounding disappointed in himself.

“Remember: assistant for collections, communications and exhibitions.”

Alex nods. “Right. C and E. The rest are all associates.”

“That’s right.”

“Give me a few more, specifically those ones.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

The engagement goes perfectly. Jeffrey’s overrun with pride at how effortless Alex makes the whole thing seem. He asks the right questions at the right time of the right people, he smiles at the right times and frowns at the right times and everybody keeps smiling at him. The walkabout goes very well too and Jeffrey has to constantly stop himself from grinning as he follows along behind Alex and dutifully collects the many gifts he’s given as he greets the screaming, excited fans.

Once they’re done, it’s back into the car, some final, perfect waves for the cameras and fans who are still staring at him and then they’re heading back to the palace for lunch before their next engagement.

Making everything even better is that Alex is constantly reaching up to his tie and discreetly pressing on it. To anybody else, the action seems casual, like Alex is adjusting something or scratching a minor itch. But Jeffrey knows he’s touching his collar. The same collar that Jeffrey had made and put on him, the same collar that represents their commitment to each other.

On the drive home for lunch, Jeffrey offers Alex his usual bland and professional compliments on the engagement they’d just completed. He hates that he can’t put as much enthusiasm into the words as he wants to, so he takes out his phone and sends Alex a string of smiley faces and clapping hands.

When Alex’s phone beeps, he pulls it out and a pleased smile spreads over his face when he sees it. He’s careful not to make eye contact with Jeffrey—both of them aware that they’re sharing the space with Alex’s driver and Prakash—but he sends back a bunch of hearts in reply.

* * *

By the time Saturday afternoon rolls around and they’ve finished their last engagement for the work week, Alex is exhausted but also proud of himself. Despite encountering some bumps during the transition period and also having to deal with a heavier schedule at the same time, Alex thinks they’re doing very well.

It’s also surprised him what a huge difference wearing Jeffrey’s collar makes. Alex still can’t believe that his dom had made him such a special, wonderful present but even more amazing is that it’s a collar. It represents how much Jeffrey cares about him and how happy he is with how everything’s going in their lives. It’s different from the cage because that’s something Alex had wanted and picked out. But the collar is something Jeffrey had made and given to him and that makes it extra special.

Whenever they’re naked in bed together, Jeffrey spends ages staring at him, his eyes moving between Alex’s happy smile, his collar and his cock cage. It truly makes Alex feel like every part of him belongs to Jeffrey now and that’s what he’s always wanted. Wearing the collar puts an extra spring in his step, makes his grin a little brighter and makes him fall in love with Jeffrey a little more every single day.

On Saturday evening, it’s time for another slight change to their normal routine when his grandpa comes to Alex’s quarters to play cards, rather than the other way around.

Alex is nervous about it, but only because of Jeffrey. While Alex would be thrilled if Jeffrey and his grandpa could develop a personal relationship, he won’t force it on Jeffrey if he can’t get past the awkwardness. But thankfully, Jeffrey seems determined to push through with it and he insists on giving it a try.

To make sure Jeffrey can stay in ‘Jeffrey’ mode rather than butler mode, Alex insists in that he stay in his casual clothes and that Alex will answer the door when his grandpa arrives. While they wait, Alex sits next to Jeffrey on the couch and watches him shuffle the cards on his lap over and over again. Jeffrey’s got that stubborn, determined look on his face that tells Alex he doesn’t need support, he just needs Alex to do his part and be ready to help him if he needs it.

Once his grandpa arrives, Alex lets him in and greets him with a big hug. “Jeffrey’s already shuffled the cards to his satisfaction so if you had any hopes of cheating, those are long gone.”

His grandpa chuckles and pats Alex on the back. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

After releasing Alex, his grandpa steps back and smiles at Jeffrey, who’s standing next to the couch, looking pale. His jaw keeps shifting and he’s clasped his hands in front of him, which must be the middle ground that he’s able to tolerate at this point.

“Hello, Jeffrey. It’s wonderful to see you.”

Jeffrey bows his head; probably out of habit. “Hello, sir.”

Alex is glad his grandpa can tell how nervous Jeffrey is because he doesn’t try forcing a hug on him or asking him not to call him ‘sir’. Maybe that will come with time or maybe those are boundaries Jeffrey will never be able to cross, but that’s okay.

Jumping into host mode, Alex smiles brightly. “Let’s have a seat and I’ll get us some drinks. Grandpa—did you bring our scoring book?”

“Yes, I did.” His grandpa makes his way to the table and chooses the seat across from Jeffrey, which is very thoughtful. This way, Alex will sit next to Jeffrey and he’ll be able to discreetly touch him to calm him down if he needs it.

Jeffrey stays silent while he stiffly sits down and keeps fiddling with the cards.

“Jeffrey, what do you want to drink?” Alex calls over.

Clearing his throat, Jeffrey responds in a tight voice. Once Alex has their drinks prepared, he brings them over and puts them on coasters. To prevent Jeffrey from getting even more stressed, Alex measures the distance between the coasters and the edge of the table to make sure they’re in the right position. He has to use his fingers to do the rough measurement, but he hopes it’ll suffice.

Jeffrey’s eyes keep staring at the coasters and even once Alex sits down and reaches over to squeeze his thigh, Jeffrey stays quiet with his lips pressed together as he fusses with the cards.

Thankfully, his grandpa provides a nice distraction by flipping open their scoring book and to Alex’s surprise, he deliberately moves to a new page before drawing three columns on it. “There we go. A nice, new page for a nice, new routine.”

Alex smiles grows as he watches his grandpa deliberately writing his own name into the first column, followed by Jeffrey’s and then Alex’s. Writing his own name acknowledges his position as their elder in the room but by putting Jeffrey’s name second, he’s firmly in the middle of the line-up rather than being a tacked-on thought.

Glancing at Jeffrey, Alex is glad to see his eyes widen and his face soften when he sees what his grandpa’s doing. “You don’t have to do that, sir. You and Alex have been keeping your scores for years.”

“Yes, but we’ve added a new player to our group so that means starting fresh. Besides, I think Alex has been looking for the chance to leave his old scores behind for a long time, so he won’t complain.”

Chuckling, Alex shrugs. “Yeah, that’s true.” He bows his head towards Jeffrey. “Thank you for giving me a decent chance to finally have a bigger score than grandpa.”

Jeffrey chuckles and it doesn’t sound as strained as Alex feared it out. He squeezes Jeffrey’s thigh again and Jeffrey puts the cards on the table so he can reach down and rub Alex’s hand. It seems they’re on the right track.

“Alright, here we go. Let me do one final shuffle and then we’ll get going.” His grandpa scoops up the cards and does a quick shuffle before sliding the deck over to Jeffrey for cutting and then over to Alex for dealing.

Once everybody has their hand and is sorting their cards, Jeffrey seems to relax even more, which is great. They start playing and it quickly becomes apparent that his grandpa isn’t taking it easy on either of them, which forces both Alex and Jeffrey to pay attention. It’s a fantastic way to get Jeffrey to stop focusing on how strange the situation must feel and Alex is grateful his grandpa knows Jeffrey so well.

They play a few rounds with his grandpa winning most of them because Alex is still splitting his time between watching Jeffrey and the cards being played but Jeffrey also wins a round. He looks shocked by it and seems to be on the verge of apologizing, but Alex and his grandpa both immediately congratulate him and his grandpa enters their scores with much more enthusiasm than he usually does. That makes Jeffrey flush and smile, but he looks pleased with himself.

“You two better start paying more attention,” Jeffrey says, that familiar teasing tone in his voice. “I might leave you both in the dust.”

Alex laughs. “Damn, now I’m never going to win. I didn’t think things through before I agreed to this.”

His grandpa chuckles. “And with my copious amounts of free time these days, I have plenty of opportunity to practice. You’re in real trouble, Alex.”

That makes Jeffrey laugh too. “But I think we should let him win once in a while, sir. It’s the polite thing to do.”

“Very true!”

Alex narrows his eyes at both of them as he scoops up the cards and starts shuffling them. “If you two keep being mean to me, I’m going to throw you both out and play solitaire by myself on Saturdays.”

Jeffrey scoffs. “You’d get bored and be begging us to come back before you’re done your first game.”

His grandpa laughs. “Yes, I’m not worried.”

While Jeffrey’s dealing the cards, his grandpa takes a sip of his drink and raises it in salute to both of them. “So, I hear congratulations are in order. You two had a spectacular week, hmm?”

Grinning, Alex grabs the cards Jeffrey’s tossing him and starts organizing them. “Yeah, we did. Doing two engagements a day for six days in a row isn’t a joke. I know it’s not always going to be that busy, but wow. But it was also fun.”

Jeffrey shoots him a smile, his eyes shining. “I thought so too.”

“Where did you two go? I heard rumors you went to that new outdoors market that opened by the lake.”

“Oh, yeah!” Alex says. “It’s great. They have a lot of vendors set up already. I stuffed myself with so much maple syrup snow candy that I barely made it through lunch.”

Jeffrey laughs. “Yeah, I had to confiscate the rest of it.”

“I haven’t had maple syrup candy in years,” his grandpa mumbles, frowning at his cards. “I’ll have to make a trip to the market one of these days. Or I’ll get some maple syrup from the kitchen and go outside to make my own. It’ll be one of my retirement activities.”

Rolling his eyes, Jeffrey stands up from the table. “You don’t have to drag yourself out into the cold, sir. I’ll give you some of our stash. Our teeth will fall out if we eat all of it.”

While Jeffrey goes into the bedroom to get some of the delicious treats, Alex grins down at his cards. Things are going even better than he thought they would and just as he’d hoped, Jeffrey has quickly found a good balance with his grandpa that suits both of them and will allow them to develop a good personal relationship.

When Jeffrey comes back out, he’s carrying a little bag filled with the sticky candy, but he’s also holding two of the sticks separately. “Here you go, sir. No, no...don’t say anything, just take it. Trust me, our teeth are starting to rattle.”

Grinning, Alex stares at the sticks left in Jeffrey’s hands and keeps his cards in his hands as he eagerly opens his mouth.

Jeffrey laughs at him, his eyes shining with fondness. “Gee, I wonder what he’s after, sir.”

His grandpa laughs too. “I have no idea. I suggest leaving him like that and we’ll see what happens.”

Alex directs mock-glares at both of them again, but he can’t quite hide his smile and how great their new dynamic is. Reaching out, he grabs Jeffrey and pulls him close enough until he can grab one of the maple syrup covered sticks with his teeth and pull it out of Jeffrey’s grasp.

Laughing, Jeffrey lets him take it and gently flicks him on the nose. “Thief.”

“You gave me no choice,” he mumbles around the stick as the sticky sweetness fills his mouth.

Rolling his eyes, Jeffrey throws him a grin before going back to his seat and sticking his own treat into his mouth to suck on.

While Alex waits for Jeffrey to sort his cards for his next hand, he stares around at their little group, filled with joy. Here he is with his two favorite people in the world, they both love him for who he is and they care about him as deeply as he cares about them. To an outsider, their group is a mixture of contradictions. A prince, a butler and a grand duke. A normal guy, his boyfriend and his grandpa. Not to mention Alex and Jeffrey’s secret relationship, hidden beneath their clothes.

But to Alex, the best part is that everything about this feels so right. He gets to spend his days working and relaxing with the people he loves and they love every moment of it as much as he does, no matter if he’s being a Prince or just Alex.

It’s everything Alex has always dreamed about and he knows he’s going to do everything in his power to keep things as perfect as they are right now.


End file.
